Joan Propst Parker

Joan Propst Parker, 83, of Hildebran, passed away peacefully on Thursday, July 31, 2025, at Carolina Caring Hospice after a valiant battle with cancer.

Born in Burke County on December 9, 1941, she was preceded in death by her father, Lee Roy Propst; her mother, Bonlon Lorenza Propst; her sisters Audrey Propst Jenkins, Nancy Propst Hampton, and Judy Propst Poteat; her brother, Wayne Garrett; and her step-mother, Mary Ellen Spencer Propst.

Joan loved life, and she knew how to have fun. She lived her life by the motto displayed on her porch: “Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and screaming, ‘WOO HOO, what a ride!’” She brought others along for the ride, traveling with family and friends to her beloved Ireland and to her happy place at the beach.

Joan was brilliant and fierce. After working many years as a telephone operator, priding herself in not needing to use the paper scraps provided by her employer to help her remember numbers, in her forties she successfully fought to be one of the first women in North Carolina to graduate from pole climbing school to become a telephone installation and repair person. She served as a union representative for her coworkers and retired from Sprint Telephone Company (previously Centel Corporation) with 35 years of service.

A woman of faith, Joan participated many years in Bible Study Fellowship and served in the Hickory Soup Kitchen in connection with First Presbyterian Church of Hickory, where she was a long-time, devoted member. In retirement, Joan also served as a volunteer court-appointed guardian ad litem for abused and neglected children in the Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) program in Burke and Catawba Counties.

Mom to five children (Mark Hefner, Rick (Kat) Hefner, Suzanne (Jamie) Hefner Bauknight, Joy Carpenter Martin, and Jay (Vicky) Carpenter) and Nana to six grandchildren (Carlin Hefner, Summer (Christian) O’Brien, Autumn (Luis) Hernandez, Cameron Martin, Salem Bauknight, and Sarah Bauknight), she will be sorely missed by them all. Joan is also survived by her loving sisters, Peggy Propst Eason, Evelyn Propst Hurley, Linda (Jackson) Propst Elliott, and brother, Dwayne Garrett, and many beloved nieces and nephews.

Joan’s family will long remember with joy her stories of the escapades she had with her sisters growing up and as adults, as well as the family gatherings when she would get teary by being surrounded by her loving family. Her favorite response to the “I love you” parting ways was “Love you more.”

The family will celebrate Joan’s life at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, August 23, 2025, at First Presbyterian Church of Hickory (237 2 nd Street, NW). The family will receive friends in the fellowship hall following the service.

Memorials may be made to First Presbyterian Church or Hickory Soup Kitchen.

Please sign the online guestbook on the Memorial Wall at www.jenkinsfuneralhome.net.