Della Joan Wooley

Della Joan (Day) Wooley passed away peacefully on May 27, 2025 after a long, wonderful life. She was a living, consistent example of dedication to loving God and loving her neighbor and will be remembered for her kindness, diligence, faithfulness, and commitment to striving to become like Jesus every single day.

She lived joyfully and earnestly as a loyal daughter, kind sister, loving wife, supportive friend, and devoted mother to 10 amazing children. She loved the idea of having children and would have had more if she could have.

Joan (she didn’t go by Della) was the first daughter born to her parents, Proctor W. Day and Mabel (Taylor) Day, in Sacramento, California, in 1933. Beginning in 1943, her three sibling sisters came along, and she was a good friend to them. During her childhood, her father was the chief medical officer of Folsom State Prison. The Day family lived in a yard between the outside walls and the inside walls of the prison. Consequently, Joan lived and grew up “in” Folsom State Prison. Her mother, Mabel, was a great pianist, accompanist, and soprano singer, and shared her love of music and piano with Joan, who started taking piano lessons at age five. For many years, Joan was an accompanist, even starting in high school when she accompanied for Congregational Church services for the prisoner work camp in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California. Joan’s children grew up hearing her play the piano in the morning, midday, and evenings—good classical and other music Joan liked was their growing-up soundtrack.

Joan said, “My childhood was idyllic and some people may have suggested that I was spoiled, but if that is true, it was great.” She loved school and got good grades and was organized—she stated that, she “liked the schoolyear better than summer vacation.” She learned to ride a bike (and loved it!) through the aid of one of the prisoners and spent time with other children whose families lived in the prison or lived nearby. By observing her exemplary parents, she developed a deep foundation of loving others no matter who they were—regardless of race or their current situation.

Beginning in the early 1940s, Mabel and Joan moved to Berkeley, while Proctor was in the US Navy. Joan enjoyed her time in Berkeley, because she could walk to the movie theatre every Saturday and spend the whole afternoon watching previews, a serial, news, cartoon, B picture and the A picture—all for 25¢. While living in Berkeley, she would walk to a nearby Baptist church, where one day, without getting parental permission, a man baptized her, which surprised her. After WWII, the family moved back to Sacramento and lived in a residential section of town instead of the prison, until the commute got to be too long and they moved back to the prison during Joan’s high school days. At least once a year, they would travel to Texas to visit the Taylor and Day grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Joan made this trip once by herself, taking the train when she was 15 from Sacramento, California, to Dallas, Texas to visit extended family. Joan and her family also went to Lake Tahoe each July and stayed in a rented cabin on the Nevada side of the lake, where she learned to water ski.

Joan experienced many of the normal things of childhood, like make-believe play, discovering flowers and flavors, making friends and playing dress-up, getting chickenpox, mumps and other scrapes and bruises, and even breaking her nose before she was 10. She was a good student and continued to learn the piano and went on to enjoy her high school time. When she was a senior, she was chosen to be the Pioneer Festival Queen, and the Folsom prisoners “loved making the float” for her to ride in the parade. She got her first job when she was 17, as a file clerk in one of the capital buildings.

Eventually, she attended Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, which is near the University of Missouri (MU). There she encountered a “mysterious” young man who was not like the other MU students. They dated for a short time and eloped to Mexico . . . Missouri, where they were married at the Methodist church. They had to live apart for a few weeks until graduation, so that Joan wouldn’t be kicked out of the college because she was now a married woman! Her parents came for graduation and were surprised and devastated that she had (eloped &) married Dan. Joan and Dan built a lovely life and matured together over their 60 years of marriage. Dan joined the Air Force in the early 1950s and consequently they moved to Florida, Mississippi, Kansas, and Texas. Dan was gone a good amount of time and Joan took care of their little ones as they came along. Eventually, Dan left the Air Force, and the family settled in Texas, where Dan was an air traffic controller. After some years there, the family moved to Oregon, where Dan earned a Master’s degree, and then to Missouri, where Joan and Dan continued to build their life and raise their children. Joan taught piano lessons, participated in various community musical endeavors, and made many dear friends. She and Dan enjoyed seeing their children grow and move on to building their own lives. They joyfully welcomed each new child-in-law and grandchild. Joan always made each new Wooley family member feel special and beloved. She was careful to remember birthdays and anniversaries, collect and share family stories. She was a prolific letter-writer, emailer, and phone caller.

During her early years of marriage, Joan would travel around and visit different churches. Eventually, through the influence of dear friends, she and Dan joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They had a hard time quitting smoking and drinking coffee, but they loved the gospel of Jesus Christ and wanted to change their lives. They committed to making changes and were successful at kicking those old habits. That commitment to follow Jesus began a life of service in the Church for Joan, including in the Primary (Sunday school and singing for children under age 12), Relief Society (the adult women’s organization), and numerous other responsibilities. As she learned and served in the Church, Joan built on the goodness and kindness she had learned from parents. She developed that love more deeply into charity—the pure love of Christ—and this charity defined her life.

Joan was an example of dedicated service to others everywhere she lived as she strived to serve God and minister as Jesus did, one by one. She touched many lives in Texas, Oregon, Missouri and finally, in Utah, where she lived for 13 years after the passing of Dan. Despite tumultuous times, severe pain and suffering, as well as the normal travails of life, she was positive, was not critical of others, rarely complained, and worked from early morning to late at night. Even when she could hardly walk because of the pain in her hip, or because she was going blind due to macular degeneration, she continued to walk the distance to Church, visit people she could talk to, and ministered to others, until she could not see or talk or walk. Joan Wooley was a living example of a modern disciple of Jesus Christ.

Joan craved learning and savored delightful beauty. She enjoyed watching movies, listening to old “crooner” tunes, collecting antique furniture, and using stickers to decorate her letters. She learned how to spin wool, studied Spanish, and acquired computer skills. She liked the color blue, natural soaps, and good, clean food. She could not abide and avoided even the very mention of those long, slithering reptiles that abound in rural Missouri. She was cheery and adored cleverness; she laughed happily, constantly delighted with her husband and family. She loved spending time in her studio in the house she and Dan designed in retirement. There she would sit under a pressed tin ceiling, typing emails to loved ones and working on other projects, with a sweeping view of their Missouri farmland outside her windowed walls. She believed in the power of prayer and the goodness of people. She submitted to her Heavenly Father, loved her Savior, and cherished the companionship of the Holy Ghost.

She was a great conversationalist, even up to just a few days before her death, keeping her humor intact. She asked one of her sons if he could still speak Spanish. When he said, “Si,” she laughed a little, caught her breath, and then said, “That’s bueno” with a smile and closed eyes.

Joan is survived, and will be missed, by eight children, 33 grandchildren and more than 50 great grandchildren and five great-great grandchildren.