JoAnne Marie (Hinrichs) Hungate

JoAnne Marie Hungate passed away on July 6, 2025 due to heart failure. JoAnne lived a very full and active life, bursting with friends, books, art and travel.

JoAnne was born in Yakima, Washington on January 29, 1934 and spent her childhood in Ellensburg and Pullman, Washington and in Amboy and Lee Center, Illinois. With a father who raised Angus cattle, naturally JoAnne entered a cattle judging competition at the state fair winning the blue ribbon against an otherwise all male group. In college, she joined Gamma Phi Beta during her two year tenure at Bradley University. Upon her return to Pullman to attend WSU, her sorority asked her to establish a chapter there. She happily did so serving for two years as the founding president. While at WSU she met her future husband, Robert W. Hungate, in an economics class, and was later serenaded by Bob and his fraternity. They both graduated as outstanding seniors, were married and began their 69 years together.

Moving around the country, JoAnne and Bob spent time in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Allston, Massachusetts, Menlo Park and Palo Alto, California, Wellesley, Massachusetts, and finally, happily, in Tucson, Arizona. JoAnne loved the desert landscape and getting a swim in every day. There wasn’t a sunny day she didn’t enjoy.

An artist for most of her life, drawing as a little girl and later painting, during the early years in Massachusetts, while raising three children, she developed a career in real estate working as property manager and in sales at Wellesley Green Condominiums, then real estate agent, and travel agent before returning to her real love, painting, printmaking, and teaching monotype techniques to others. JoAnne exhibited widely and received numerous awards. In fact her colorful and vibrant art is in collections around the world. Always active in the community, JoAnne was part of the Junior Service League, the Wellesley Congregational church, Newcomers, Copley Society of Art, American Pen Women, the Contemporary Art Society, Tucson Museum of Art, art boards, book clubs, as well as attending and supporting various theater productions, Tucson’s Festival of Books, and the symphony.

JoAnne loved to travel, seeing much of the world with her husband, her family, and on her own where she made some life long friends. One of her special places was Nantucket where she returned year after year, enjoying the thrift shop every day along with spending time with family, walking the beaches or reading.

JoAnne was preceded in death by her parents, John Hinrichs and Florence Mihm.

JoAnne leaves behind many many close friends and family as well as her husband, Bob, her children: Robert Mark Hungate (Fredi), Jay Wolcott Hungate (Chrissy), Lynn Hungate Desmone (Chip), six grandchildren: Robert Sam Hungate, Anna Pouls Gillis, Charles Luke Desmone, Josette Wolcott Desmone, Olivia Alice Hungate, Fiona Elizabeth Hungate, and five great grandchildren.

A celebration of JoAnne’s vibrant life will follow at a later date. She will be greatly missed, and never forgotten, by all who knew and loved her.