Mrs. Joanne K. Hatch's Obituary
Joanne K. Hatch, 75, passed away Friday evening, April 11, in Muskegon. She was born October 8, 1938 to Monte and Susan (Dunscombe) Greer in Flint, and moved to the Whitehall area from Grosse Pointe in 1971.
Joanne and Mac owned three marinas on White Lake and Joanne spent more than 15 years in the boat covering business. In 1976 she took a job with the County of Muskegon as the Training and Job Placement Coordinator for the Department of Employment and Training. In 1982 Joanne went to work for the Muskegon Chamber of Commerce, becoming the President by 1988. She moved back to the County of Muskegon in 1992 as the Administrative Assistant for the County Administrator and stayed in this position until 1998 when she became the Tourism Development Director for the County of Muskegon. Joanne was instrumental in the Tall Ships Challenge event bringing numerous Tall Ships to Muskegon County as one of the most successful tourism related activities at Heritage Landing. Working with other neighboring communities, state agencies and organizations Joanne established a solid foundation for the successful tourism plans that Muskegon enjoys today.
Joanne possessed a certain quality to elicit a “Yes” answer from everyone she encountered and operated on the belief that others would respond as enthusiastically as she did. Over the years, numerous organizations benefited from Joanne’s business connections and ability to get the job done. These organizations included Muskegon Civic Theatre, West Shore Symphony, Michigan Irish Music Festival, and many others. One closest to Joanne’s heart was the Howmet Playhouse. Joanne was instrumental and worked tirelessly to raise funds and awareness to support Whitehall’s historic Howmet Playhouse.
She was most proud of her children and grandchildren, was an avid reader, an excellent seamstress and had an outstanding memory for names and details.
Survivors include her husband Mac; 2 children, Greer Darby of Swartz Creek, Edward “Ted” (Julie) Hatch of Bell Brook, OH; 5 grandchildren, Garrett Darby, Samantha Hatch, Elizabeth (Matt) Slagle, Jacob and Tyler Hatch; 2 great-grandchildren, Grace and Myia Slagle; 2 brothers, Mark Greer, James (Michelle) Greer; and 1 sister, Delmar (Richard) Kruger. A memorial service will be held at 3:00 PM Saturday, April 19, at The Lee Chapel of Sytsema Funeral Homes, Inc., 6291 S. Harvey St., Norton Shores, 49444, (231) 798-1100 with Pastor John H. Brown officiating. A time of gathering with the family will be from 1-3 PM Saturday. You may visit the family’s online guestbook at www.sytsemafh.com In lieu of flowers, Joanne’s family requests any donations in her memory be directed to the Howmet Theater Fund City of Whitehall.
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