Mary Joan (Clester) Powers passed from her earthly home on Sunday, June 28, 2015 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and is now living in the presence of her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Joan was born on October 4, 1929 in Ironton, Ohio to Audrey Laura (Willis) and Virgil Oliver Clester. Joan attended Ironton High School where she was crowned the May Queen her senior year. After graduating in 1947, Joan attended Olivet Nazarene College where she earned a BS in Elementary Education in 1951. While at Olivet, she met and fell in love with her husband of 63 years, Joseph Dudley Powers. They soon moved to Texas where Joan taught elementary school, helping to put her husband through dental and medical school. He often said he thanked her by then taking her to the most primitive place on the face of the earth, Papua New Guinea, where they served as missionaries with the Church of the Nazarene from 1965 to 1969. In the years preceding their service as missionaries, Joan and Dudley had three children: Bradford Eric, Peter Kerry, and Elizabeth Ann who joined them on their missionary journey. A fourth child, Stephani Sue, was born while the family was in New Guinea. While on the mission field, Joan taught school to the native children while her husband served as the founding administrator and physician of the Kudjip Nazarene Hospital in the Western Highlands. Upon their return to the United States, Joan was a stay-at-home mom to her children and loved being Grammy to her nine grandchildren. She was active in her church, Bethany First Church of the Nazarene, where she enjoyed working with the children. She served as a first grade Sunday school teacher for many years and served as a volunteer for the children's after school program at its inception. She also enjoyed opening her home to the church youth and international students from Southern Nazarene University. She assisted her husband for many years as he taught the Bethel Bible study series and the Reach Out Sunday school class. Joan is survived by her four children and their spouses: Bradford and Debby (Ruggles) Powers; Peter and Shannon (McGowan) Powers; Elizabeth and James Fitzgerald; Stephani and Richard Cochran; nine grandchildren: Joshua Powers and wife Kristina; John Powers and wife Kathryn; Anne Powers; Devon Powers; Colin Powers; Erin Cox and husband Philip; Kaitlyn Fitzgerald; Anna Fitzgerald; Richard Cochran Jr.; two great-grandchildren: Jane Verity Powers and James Courage Powers; brother, Ronald Clester and wife Carla; and numerous nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband, Joseph Dudley Powers, M.D., her parents, Virgil Oliver Clester and Audrey Laura (Willis) Clester; brothers, Milton Lee Clester, and Gordon Virgil Clester. Funeral Service will be held Thursday, July 2, 2015, 2:00 p.m. at Bethany First Church of the Nazarene in Bethany, Oklahoma. Visitation with the family will be Wednesday, July 1, 2015 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Mercer-Adams Funeral Home in Bethany, Oklahoma. Donations in honor of Joan can be made to Bethany First Church of the Nazarene directed to support the Children's After School Program or through Global Missions of the Church of the Nazarene directed to support the Kudjip Nazarene Hospital in Papua New Guinea. Family Visitation Wednesday, July 1, 2015 06:00 AM - 08:00 PM Mercer-Adams Funeral Service 3925 N. Asbury Bethany, OK 73008 Funeral Service Thursday, July 2, 2015 02:00 PM Bethany First Church of the Nazarene 6789 N.W. 39th Expressway Bethany, OK 73008