Joan Stover Kemper, 103, of Oak View, California passed away peacefully at home on February 26, 2026. Joan was born in Chicago, Illinois to Holly Stover
and Grace Clark on December 8, 1922. Joan graduated from Roycemore School in Evanston, Illinois. After high school, Joan attended Sweet Briar College and
later went to Northwestern University to study theater.
Joan called many places home throughout her life including Chicago and Barrington in Illinois, Aspen and Silt in Colorado, and Beverly Hills, San Marino,
Pasadena, and Oak View in California. She had an extensive background in public relations, marketing and theater. After her children were grown and had
left home for college and their own careers, Joan bought a horse and cattle ranch in Silt, Colorado. After running the ranch for ten years, she decided it was time to
return to California, and in 1985, she picked up stakes and moved to the Ojai Valley.
Joan immediately became involved in the Ojai Music Festival, eventually becoming the Executive Director. Joan has since served on the boards of the Ojai Film Society, the Ojai Playwrights Conference, Help of Ojai, the Ojai Museum, the Thacher School, the Ojai Valley Community Hospital, and the Ojai
Land Conservancy, which she helped create in the mid-90s. She also was involved in creating the “Bravo” program, which brings music to schoolchildren in
the Ojai Valley. Joan helped with projects to rebuild the pergola in Libbey Park and to create Cluff Vista Park, and she also worked on a myriad of other
non-profit projects in Ojai related to the performing arts.
Joan returned to her love of the theater by forming the Ojai Performing Arts Theater in 2004, which for over 20 years has provided Ojai with plays, musicals, holiday shows and other events, with the profits benefiting various non-profits in town.
Joan was preceded in death by her father and mother, stepfather, Hathaway G. Kemper, and half brother Hathaway C. Kemper. She is survived by her daughter
Susanne Kemper, son Stephen Hooper Kemper, daughter Judith Kemper Lewis and her husband Harrie (Hal) France Lewis, son Robert Clark Kemper, her
granddaughter Lauren Nicole Morell and her husband Ryan Judson Morell, granddaughters Tess K. Lewis and Sophie Kemper Lewis, grandson Carl Scott Kemper and his wife Jessica Lebel Cote, grandson Jorden Robert Kemper, grandson William Justin Kemper and his wife Tahiti Hernandez Kemper, and her
great-grandsons James Louis Kemper, Haze Eric Kemper, Lion Rose Kemper, Owen Jacob Mazer, and Roman Judson Morell.
In lieu of flowers the family asks that any tributes be donations to the Ojai Music Festival, 201 S. Signal Street, Ojai, CA 93023 (Ojaifestival.org) or the Ojai
Performing Arts Theater, 671 Saddle Ln., Ojai, CA 93023 (Ojaitheater.org). A Celebration of Life service will be held at the Ojai Presbyterian Church at 304
Foothill Rd., Ojai, CA 93023 on March 7, 2026 at 2:30 PM.
Arrangements are under the direction of the JOSEPH P. REARDON FUNERAL HOME & CREMATION SERVICE, Ventura.