JoAnn Mowrey

JoAnn Tercek-Mowrey passed away on November 11 at Livingston Healthcare after a battle with ovarian cancer. She was a wife and mother, a helper, a child advocate, a lover of art and animals, and cherished her role as a grandma.

JoAnn was born May 29, 1944 in Oberlin, OH to Charles and Josephine Luikart. She lived on her parents’ beautiful farm with her brother, Jay, until she graduated from Oberlin High School in 1962. She grew up in a large extended family in the Oberlin area and has many fond memories of family gatherings.

She attended Kent State University and received her Bachelor’s degree in 1967, her Master’s degree in Community Counseling in 1983, and her Educational Specialist degree in 1985.

Prior to her graduate degrees, JoAnn worked as a Social Worker for abused and neglected children in Akron, OH, as a Probation Officer for teenage girls at the Juvenile Court in Portage County OH, and as a Court Investigator for adoptions and custody hearings at Portage County Ohio Probate and Juvenile Court. She became a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor in OH and worked as an Outpatient Therapist and Clinical Director at Catholic Social Services in Akron, Ohio for three years and as an Outpatient and School Therapist at a children’s mental health facility in Ravenna, OH for over 23 years. In addition to her passion for helping and advocating for children and their families, one of her greatest accomplishments was in supervising many interns to become licensed Counselors.

JoAnn married Thomas Tercek in 1968 and raised two children, Michael and Shanna, in Kent, OH. She married Joel Mowrey in 1993 and resided in Cuyahoga Falls, OH.  After both she and Joel retired, they moved to Livingston, MT in May 2019 to be close to Shanna and her husband, Brian, and their daughter, Sylvan, and Michael and his wife, Ashea, and their daughter, Aria.

JoAnn’s interests included being with her children and granddaughters and other family members, drawing and painting, caring for animals (including many cats), listening to music, especially New Orleans jazz and attending summer outdoor concerts with the Cleveland Orchestra, spending time in the outdoors, and enjoying Aria’s violin playing and Sylvan’s ballet dancing.

She is survived by her husband, Joel, her two children and their spouses and two granddaughters, brother Jay (Kathy) and their two children, first husband, Tom (Kate), and several cousins in OH and Florida.

JoAnn devoted her professional life to helping others and had selfless love for her friends and family. She created situations that allowed the people around her to succeed, and never took credit for the joy and beauty that she made possible. She taught us that "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice" and insisted that we make our lives part of that positive change. Her compassion and love helped shape the best parts of our personality and serve as a lasting example of a life well-lived.

A Celebration of Life will be held at 1:00 p.m. Saturday, November 19, 2022, at Franzen-Davis Funeral Home in Livingston, MT.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Stafford Animal Shelter at 3 Business Park Road, Livingston, MT.