(Carol) Joanne Richter was born on February 22, 1934 in Warden, Montana to Carl and Eunice Kofford. She passed away unexpectedly on Friday, June 10 at Newport Community Hospital.

She was known to her family and many of her friends as Clam. She was always a tomboy and so at a young age was called Calamity Jane, and that evolved into Clam. She was also called Jo. She was never fond of the name Carol and often signed her name as C. Joanne Richter.

At 16 she married Ervin Richter and they had two children Lana and Monte. They lived in Scotia by the Little Spokane River. Their first home had no running water or electricity, so in the winter months they lived in town in the Johnson's Apartments . Once their children reached school age, the old house was torn down and was replaced by a trailer. They got their first telephone in 1968. It was a 10-party line. But to them, it was quite a luxury.

They divorced in February 1981 after 30 years of marriage. Neither ever remarried and they always remained friends. Ervin passed away 10 years ago.

Joanne was passionate about flower gardening and was especially proud of the beautiful terraced garden she created in her backyard where she resided for 26 years on Idaho Hill in Oldtown. She also loved dancing. Over the years she taught line dancing and later she taught an exercise class for seniors called Fit and Fall Free. She continued teaching line dancing into her middle 80s.

Joanne lived everyday fully and with great joy. She is survived by her adoring children Monte Richter and his wife Linda, her daughter Lana Eberhard and her husband Steve. She was especially proud of her 3 grandchildren Chanda Edmiston, Leslie Connly and Emil Richter; 6 great grandchildren, and two great-great grandchildren. She is also survived by her sisters Donna Eastin and Sharron Gamble as well as many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her brothers Glenn (Bunk) Kofford and James (Jim) Kofford.

Joanne leaves behind many lifelong friends and will be sorely missed by us all.

A celebration of life will take place on July 28, 2022 at 1 p.m. at the Sherman-Campbell funeral home, followed by a gathering friends and family at her home at 311 E. 4 ^th St. S. in Oldtown.

Sherman-Campbell Funeral & Cremation Services in Newport WA is in charge of arrangements.  Family and friends are invited to sign the online guest book at shermancampbell.com .