Fairy Joan Paine

Fairy Joan (George) Paine, a Caney resident for over 50 years, died July 4, 2024 at Hospice of The Valley in Tempe, Ariz. She was 94 years old. Fairy Joan George was born July 21, 1929, in Coffeyville to Herbert Kyle “Skeet” George and Ethel Pauline (Miller) George. At age 2, she moved with her family to Mound Valley, where her parents published the Mound Valley Times-Journal. When she was 14, the family moved to Caney where Skeet and Ethel purchased the Caney Daily Chronicle. Joan graduated from Caney High School in 1947 and from Coffeyville Community College in 1949. She then taught fourth grade for two years at McKinley Elementary School in Caney and taught first grade for one year in Goodland, Kan. She also worked as a teletype operator for the Manhattan Mercury-Chronicle. In 1957, she earned a bachelor’s of science degree in journalism from the William Allen White School of Journalism and Public Information at the University of Kansas. After graduating, she was a reporter for the Garden City Telegram and then was an assistant editor for the Kansas Government Journal in Topeka. In 1960, she returned to Caney to help publish the Chronicle and establish the Kansas Offset Printing Company (KOPCO) in Caney. On June 26, 1971, she married George M. Paine Jr., at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Coffeyville. Their son, Edward George Paine, was born on Dec. 16, 1972. George and Joan Paine bought the Oswego Independent-Observer in 1971 and published it until 1976, selling it after George suffered a brain aneurysm in 1975. They returned to Caney where Joan worked at KOPCO. In 1982 she earned a master’s degree in English from Pittsburg State University and began teaching English and journalism at Caney Valley High School. She also taught night classes for CCC and the Montgomery County Alternative School. She retired from teaching in 1994. She worked as the secretary for the Caney Chamber of Commerce for three years, retiring just before her 70th birthday. Joan was a member of Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Caney, where she was a member of the Altar Society. She served as secretary of the Caney Valley Historical Society and had been both president and secretary of the Caney Lions Club. In Sun City, Ariz., she was a member of St. Elizabeth Seton Catholic Church and for nine years served as secretary of the Sun City King-Prairie Condominium Association in which she and Mr. Paine resided. For decades she sang in church choirs in Kansas and Arizona, and assisted her husband in his hobby of genealogical research. Immediate survivors are her son and daughter-in-law, Edward and Stephanie Paine of Phoenix, Ariz.; a sister, Kathy Taylor, and her husband Rudy; and a sister-in-law, Reba George, all of Caney. She was preceded in death by her parents, husband, and sister, June Freisberg, and brother, Kenneth George. The family would like to invite you to the Sandstone Event Center in Caney on Thursday, October 3rd from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm to share memories of Joan. Funeral Mass will be held on Friday, October 4, 2024 at 10:00 am at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Caney, Kansas. A private family burial will follow at Hope Cemetery in St. Paul, Kansas. Arrangements have been entrusted to Countryside Funeral Home in Chanute, Kansas.

Fairy Joan Paine

July 21, 1929 - July 4, 2024