Joan Marie Lawson

Joan Marie Riggio Lawson of Temple, TX, age 91, passed away peacefully in her home on May 10, 2026, surrounded by loving family members. Her last gift to her children in this life was to be with them here on Earth until the early morning of Mother’s Day before she went to Heaven to celebrate with her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Joan was born August 27, 1934, in Pueblo, CO, to Frank and Josephine Riggio. The first of two children, Joan was high-spirited and independent from day one. She adored her baby brother Jack, always wanting to pick him up like a doll and spin him around as she danced. Her first ever spanking was due to her dropping him during one such instance, though she insisted it was an accident and in no way due to jealousy over persistent remarks of “Joanie’s so smart, Jackie’s so cute!” Family was a huge part of Joan’s life—literally, as she had 27 first cousins; a statistic she particularly enjoyed having in common with Nia Vardalos’ character in My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

Joan’s early education was in St. Mary’s School, part of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in the Eilers Heights neighborhood of Pueblo. Joan “applied herself” and actively engaged the rigorous, disciplined instruction provided by the nuns. After Confirmation, Joan transferred to public elementary at Edison School, followed by Keating Junior High School and Central High School, continuing to achieve academic excellence up through graduation in 1952. Joan’s school activities included Honor Roll, Operetta, State Music Contest, Girls Rifle Club, Central Times Staff, Girls Cabinet, Aletheorian Society, Centralian Society, and Girls Chorus, to name a few.

When asked her biggest regret in life, Joan always said it was not being able to travel to Denver in her freshman year to compete in the state spelling bee due to a road-closing snowstorm, which would not have been a problem had her principal listened to her advice to take the train! Those who knew Joan, and especially those who ever dared sit across from her at a Scrabble board, have no doubt she would have won the spelling bee.

Most young women of the day either married right after high school or entered one of four professions: teacher, nun, nurse, or secretary. Joan was exceptional at shorthand and opted to seek employment at the Pueblo Ordnance Depot where she served as right hand to a high-level manager and also mastered the game of pinochle.

At the age of 18, Joan met Army Corporal Warren Lawson at a dance hall in Pueblo. It was love at first sight—for Warren—who, at the end of the night, convinced Joan to respond if he wrote to her during his active duty post at Fort Carson. A whirlwind year of almost daily correspondence followed, much to the chagrin of Joan’s father who bemoaned the frivolous use of expensive airmail stamps when first class postage would do just fine. Before long, Joan could no longer resist the charms of the larger-than-life soldier-turned-water well driller from Texas. They conspired to elope, and Joan secretly packed her suitcase one morning before work, got into Warren’s waiting car, and the couple drove to Raton, NM, where they wed on December 7, 1954. They enjoyed 43 wonderful years of marriage before Warren’s passing in 1998.

The couple established their home out in the country at Jubilee Springs, part of the Lawsons’ family ranch on Lake Belton near Moffat, TX, and were eager to start their own family. They welcomed their first daughter, Cheryl, into the world less than two years later. Within six years, they found themselves parents of five with the addition of son Gene, twin boys Frank and Bill, and daughter Lisa. Joan quickly realized she needed to learn to cook for her growing family and turned to a shiny new copy of the Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook gifted by her mother. Bread was the easiest thing for Joan to make with the time and ingredients she had, so she and Warren would often share an entire loaf for dinner. Over the years, Joan earned a reputation as a masterful cook and wonderful hostess, and there was always room at her table for extended family, invited guests, or drop-in visitors—though, if that night’s menu featured her famous spaghetti and meatballs, it was especially crowded. Even after she became an empty-nester, you could always count on Joan to welcome you with open arms and a table full of her preferred love language—a hearty meal—though if she was “in town” for the day, nothing quite satisfied her own hunger like a “Dude” sandwich from Dairy Queen.

Joan was a wonderful mother who deeply loved and always prioritized her family. Despite her adage that the Lawsons were “family rich and cash poor,” it never felt that way to her children. Finding a way to make ends meet, Joan had layaway accounts at all the major department stores. When Warren would ask if something was new, she would truthfully say, “Oh, no—I bought this months ago!” She was a fierce couponer and refunder—collecting “trash” bags full of box tops and receipts she would cash in for food, toys, kitchenware, and even free tickets for the entire family to attend the 1989 Texas Rangers game at Arlington Stadium where Nolan Ryan pitched his record-breaking 5,000th strikeout. Once, Joan bought every available copy of the Temple Daily Telegram to cut out that day’s high-value coupon for diapers—gathering enough to last the entire childhood of her first-born grandchild with some to spare for the next.

Of course, Joan relished a well-deserved day of pampering herself, whether it involved a massage, a pedicure, or a perm—which she had started getting regularly in middle school. Warren never denied Joan these special treatments, though he would often tease her about them. After Warren’s death, his children found in the back of the phone book Warren’s handwritten record of the dates of “Joan’s Temporaries,” which occurred much more frequently than she had admitted to him!

Warren’s gregariousness was the perfect complement to Joan’s steadfast tenacity, and the two quickly became prominent fixtures within their small community of Moffat. Joan was well known at Moffat Elementary School—the two-room country school where the Lawson kids provided, on average, 10% of the total enrollment. She baked many a two-layer for the Halloween Carnival cakewalk and enough cake for the entire school every time one of her children had a birthday. She was a member of the Central Texas Republican Women and Moffat Home Demonstration Club.

Joan was introduced to her Christian faith during childhood at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Pueblo, CO, and after she and Warren married, together they joined First Lutheran Church of Temple, TX, where she particularly enjoyed quilting with a group of friends each week. Though she was not always able to “go to town” to attend services, Joan practiced her faith in many ways. In particular, she read a Jesus Calling devotional daily and regularly tuned in to the Bible teaching ministry of Joyce Meyer. She became a partner of the ministry and actively received and shared Joyce Meyer’s devotional books, teachings, studies, and other resources with family and friends.

Joan was unwaveringly loyal. It was during her early life in Pueblo that she met some of her most cherished, lifelong friends—including classmates Elsie Kochevar Mortimer, Norma Peltz, Betty Savage Prince, Norma Kochevar Reynolds, Shirley Hegler Ruggierri, and Barbara Smith; neighbors Bill and Helen Davis, Carmen Figueroa, and Virgie Figueroa Wallace; and coworker Janet Miller. The move to Texas brought even more dear friends into her circle—including Red and Newanna Carter, Bob and Lucille Corsentino, Chester and Betty Critchfield, Tony and Sue Ann Guggenbickler, Olie and “Texas mom” Karen Kjelland, Don and Shirley Rice, Bernard and Lois Sheeler, Arden and Omega Siler, Jon and Jan Tankersley, Harloe and Mary White, Joe and Mary Williams, and many more. When brother Jack married the love of his life in 1957, Joan found another “best friend” in her new sister-in-law, Kay. The two visited each other as often as they could, playing hours upon hours of their favorite card game, Spite and Malice, and talked on the phone daily, never running out of things to say, until Kay’s passing in 2024.

Self-employment provided freedom for the family to travel, and Warren and Joan took advantage of that every chance they could. Many summers were spent fishing at Lemons Fishing Camp on the Colorado River (now Colorado Bend State Park) or catching blue crab at the Texas Gulf Coast, and the boys could often be found hunting in the fall. Warren and Joan loved going to Mexico and also shared a lofty goal to visit every state in the U.S. They were able to cross off the entire Lower 48 together—all while driving and often accompanied by one or more of their children and Warren’s mother.

Warren adored Joan and treated her like royalty—even going so far as to affectionately nickname her “Queenie,” a title that perfectly embodied her role as the family matriarch. But perhaps her favorite name of all was “Woofie,” as she was known to her many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Woofie was not the kind of grandmother you’d only see at Christmas out of obligation—she adored her grandchildren and was heavily invested and involved in the lives of each one no matter how far away they lived. She provided a lifetime of memories for them—whether it was a handwritten card for every holiday signed with her trademark “Woofie heart,” the willingness to play Ursula to her granddaughter’s Ariel in the backyard plastic pool, a seemingly endless container of Cheez-Balls, a “don’t tell your parents” introduction to her favorite soap opera Days of Our Lives, the passing along of a favorite book to instill her voracious love of reading, or patient instruction on how to make her signature potica recipe.

Despite several health battles, Joan never lost her indomitable spirit, though eventually, and happily, she relinquished control over the rambunctious family gatherings—confessing that her true dream house “had no kitchen.” She spent the last few years enjoying her reign—playing cards, relentlessly beating her family at Scrabble, conquering each day’s crossword and cryptoquote puzzles, relishing in daily “Grapefruit Happy Hour,” and relaying stories to those closest to her who cherished every drop of wisdom and laughter she provided.

Joan was preceded in death by her parents Frank and Josephine Riggio; husband Warren M. Lawson; father-in-law Warren P. Lawson; mother-in-law Minnie D. Lawson Evans; and sister-in-law Kay Riggio. She is survived by her brother Jack Riggio of Pueblo, CO; daughter Cheryl Traudt and husband Larry of Waco, TX; son Warren “Gene” Lawson and wife Charmayne of Temple, TX; son Frank Lawson of Temple, TX; son William “Bill” Lawson and wife Beth of Lubbock, TX; daughter Lisa Teeple and husband Alan of Austin, TX; grandchildren Alan Burdette, Natalie Underwood, Chayne, Shannon, Dieterich, Henry, and Josephine Lawson, Sarah Powell, Samuel Teeple, Cory Wheeler, and Amanda Reeder; great-grandchildren Jerusha and Isaiah Burdette, Frances Lawson-Goode, Gemma Zhou-qin Lawson, Haylee and Kaylee Reeder, and Bradley and Brent Wheeler; nephews Mike, Jeff, and John Riggio; and many beloved cousins, extended family members, and life-long friends.

Joan was laid to rest beside Warren at Bellwood Memorial Park in Temple, TX, on May 13 in a private graveside service officiated by Brady Wayne Fox, pastor, First Lutheran Church of Temple.

Memorial donations may be made to the Moffat Volunteer Fire Department, Joyce Meyer Ministries, or Our Hospice House of Belton, TX.

The family would like to extend a special thank you to the entire Amedisys Home Health Care Services team—especially nurse Whitney Holmes and aides Alexis Garcia and Shawnequa Edwards; as well as Baylor Scott & White physicians Adam Brown, D.O., and Paula Duran Sierra, M.D., for their compassionate care and true friendship.