Joan Emily (Johnson) Trotter was born October 29, 1928, the first of three, on the Johnson family farm in Eastern Nebraska, near Weeping Water. Her parents were Claude and Amilia (Hoehn) Johnson.
At 16, Joan graduated from high school then attended the Lincoln School of Commerce in Lincoln, Nebraska, where she met her husband, Robert (Bob) Trotter. They were married in 1948 and stationed at Fort Campbell Kentucky where Joan worked in the Army Hospital on base. Bob later found employment with the Union Pacific Railroad and moved them to Laramie, Wyoming. Joan worked for the Dean of Men at the University of Wyoming then for the Department of Agriculture Soil Conservation Service later. Joan’s father came out to Wyoming and built them a home in 1953 where she spent the rest of her life. In 1955 they were blessed with their only child Richard. Joan worked for the Bureau of Mines located on the University of Wyoming campus where she eventually earned her bachelor’s degree. Her greatest joy was teaching English as a Second Language and serving on the Hospitality Committee for Foreign Students. She made many wonderful and lifelong friends from all over the world. This spurred her desire to travel and visited Europe, Northern Africa, Central and South America, and New Zealand which she had a special fondness for. She and Bob shared their home with several foreign students over the years. Joan was a lifelong member of the First United Methodist Church in Laramie.
After a battle with Dementia, she passed peacefully in her sleep June 21, 2025, at the age of 96. She will be missed by her family and many dear friends.
Joan is preceded in death by her parents and her husband Bob.
She is survived by her sisters Harriet (Larry) Knee and Sue (Bob) Solberg, son Richard (Diane), granddaughters Randi (Tim) Downham and Kelsey Trotter, great grandchildren Alex, Rhyan, Reese and Hayes, and extended family.
A Funeral Service will be held at 11:00 a.m. Monday, June 30, 2025 at the First United Methodist Church. Interment will follow at Greenhill Cemetery.
Memorials may be made to the Laramie Animal Welfare Society. The family extends heartfelt thanks to all the caregivers of Home Instead and Cottonwood Health and Rehabilitation.
I met your familymember, Joan Trotter, when I came to Wyoming in 1991 as she worked for EG&G, a contractor for DOE where I had transferred to from Kelly Air Force Base, TX. I moved back to Wyoming at that time since it was my desire to return to WY where I was born and she was the first friend I made when I returned. She was a delight to be around and we shared a lot of interesting memories growing up, she in Nebraska and me in Wyoming and our connections since both of us had worked for the Military. We were involved in several organizations outside our job, one being the National Association of Active and Federal Employes. In addition. we belonged to a Stock Club along with some of our fellow employees. She and I researched her family history and we accomplished quite a bit getting back to the early 1800's and even to the 1700's which was her goal. We had fun working together. I will always miss her, but want you to know I'm thinking of you, her family. I know her spirit will continue to shine through those whose lives she has touched of which one is mine. She was definately a special person.