Jo Ann Malir

Jo Ann Malir, 71, of Overland Park, joined her Lord in heaven on August 2, 2009 following a short battle with cancer.

Jo Ann was born May 26, 1938, in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Rex and Rose Knapp. She was the member of a service family and traveled extensively while her father was in the Navy. Her father gave his life in the Battle of the Coral Sea. Jo Ann, her mother, younger brother and sister survived the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor by seeking safety in a bomb shelter on the Navy base. After graduating in 1956 from Schertz High School, San Antonio, Texas. Jo Ann moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, where she met and married Larry Malir in March of 1957. They had two daughters, Kathy Dilley (Jeff), Liberty, Missouri; and Carla Hutson (Mike), Fredonia, Kansas.

Jo Ann was very active as a leader in the Girl Scouts and Parent Teachers Association. She was also very active in the Kansas City Square Dancing community as a member of Bootoneers Square Dance Club. She worked several years at the Pizza Hut office in Wichita, Kansas.

She is also survived by her husband of 52 years, Larry, her sister Patricia Goss, Shawnee, Kansas; a brother, Edward Gwinn (Toni), Lakewood, Colorado. She is preceded in death by a stepbrother James Gwinn of Phoenix, AZ.

The family wishes to extend a special thank you to the nurses and staff of the DCI and the Kansas City Hospice for their care and compassion.

Memorial contributions can be made to Kansas City Hospice, 10100 W. 87th Street Parkway, Suite. 100, Overland Park, Kansas 66212.