Get to Know Our Team

Joan McDermott was born in Wisconsin and grew up on a dairy farm.  She was part of a very large family with four grandparents who were German immigrants.  She attended Walther Memorial Hospital School of Nursing in Chicago.  Joan was commissioned as a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps in 1967 at Fort Sam Houston.  She served two tours of duty in Vietnam in 1968 and 1971, where she also volunteered at local civilian hospitals and orphanages.   Between the overseas tours, she was assigned to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and worked as a cardiovascular open heart surgical unit nurse.  After her active duty service, she was employed as an intensive care and surgical nurse in San Francisco and volunteered at a half-way house for drug- and alcohol-addicted individuals.

She became the wife of an active duty Army officer and fellow Vietnam veteran in 1974.  During his assignment at Fort Leavenworth, she worked at a local hospital as a nursing supervisor.   She was very active in support of the foreign officers and their families from 52 countries attending the U.S. Staff College and worked with Girl Scouts of America.  Following her husband’s assignment to Australia, they returned to the U.S. to Fort Riley, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing from Washburn University in Topeka in 1982. She also volunteered for 3 years as a guide for tours of the historic Army post.  

When her spouse was assigned to Fort Bragg, she attended classes, along with her husband, to prepare for his assignments as a foreign area officer.  They then moved to the Philippines for two years.  Joan volunteered to support orphanages and organizations for children at risk.  She was in Manila with their three children when the revolution deposing Ferdinand Marcos occurred, while her spouse was in Washington, D.C.  She was able to assist in reporting events as they unfolded to her husband who was in the Pentagon.  After three years in Singapore, Joan attended Bahasa Malaysia language classes in Washington, D.C., in preparation for her husband’s assignment to Malaysia.  During her life in Southeast Asia, she volunteered with many organizations including the International School, local charities and Boy Scouts.  Joan co-founded support groups in Singapore and Malaysia for parents who had children with learning disabilities. As an American military attache’s wife, she assisted with the coordination of embassy and attache events, hosting individuals from many countries and highlighting visiting American artists and leaders.

Upon her husband’s retirement, the couple moved to Washington State.  Joan resumed her nursing career and worked as a supervisor at an Area Agency on Aging in Bellingham, Washington.  She also was a hospice volunteer for 9 years.

Since moving to Lake Havasu City, Arizona, 12 years ago, Joan worked as a home health nurse and supervisor until her  retirement.  She has been active as a Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) post commander and district commander, as well as in other elected positions at State level and on the VFW National Convention Committee for 3 years.  Joan is a member of the American Legion, Vietnam Veterans of America, the Elks, the Eagles, and is the current Second Vice-President for the Military Officers Association of America.  She has represented the VFW at local veteran stand-downs for 6 years. She has been a member of two Western Arizona Council of Governments (WACOG) boards for several years and has been a volunteer Medicare counselor with WACOG for 7 years.   Joan has been the mentor coordinator for the Havasu Veterans Treatment Court and Havasu Veterans’ Resource Team for 6 years.  She was  a committee member for the Freedom Bridge Foundation, is on the the Nine-Eleven Ceremony Committee, and the Vietnam 50th Commemorative Anniversary Committee.  She has been a Board member and is the current secretary for the London Bridge Plaza Association.  Joan has acted as an advisor for local Boy Scout Eagles candidates.  And she is a 2016 inductee into the Arizona Veterans’ Hall of Fame.