Joan Lucille Rezac

Mrs. Joan Lucille “JoAnn” Rezac, née Blocker, age 94, of Emmett, Kansas, passed away on March 7, 2026, after a brief illness, surrounded by her family.

Born December 4, 1931, in St. Benedict, Kansas, Joan was one of eleven children of Clemens and Mary Blocker. She received her early education in Nemaha County and graduated from Hayden High School in Topeka in 1950. On April 19, 1952, she married Bernard Anthony Rezac in Topeka; they shared 56 devoted years together until his passing in 2008.

Joan’s greatest joy was her large and ever-growing family. She became the matriarch of a lively clan that eventually included fifty-eight children among her siblings, fostering a close network of cousins, aunts, and uncles bound by deep affection and shared traditions. What began as frequent family celebrations grew into an annual July reunion for the descendants of her parents. With warmth and quiet devotion, Joan remembered the stories, kept the traditions alive, and served as a steady connecting thread across generations.

For 35 years she worked as a Special Agent for Modern Woodmen of America, raising nearly $400,000 for local causes, including the refurbishment of the kitchen at Holy Cross Catholic Church in Emmett and benefits for area emergency responders. She also took special delight in managing the family’s cow-calf operation, where she could once identify every cow at a glance and recall the details of past calves with remarkable precision. An accomplished quilter, she hand-pieced thousands of petals into dozens of Grandmother’s Flower Garden quilts. A woman of deep and steadfast faith, Joan was a lifelong Catholic and a devoted member of Holy Cross Catholic Church in Emmett for more than 50 years, later attending Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in St. Marys.

She is survived by her children Teresa L. Rezac and husband Tom Rasnic of Emmett, Charles Rezac of Emmett, Mary Rezac and husband Peter Pfromm of Lawrence, and Francis Rezac and wife Teresa M. Rezac of Emmett; four grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; one great-great-granddaughter; one brother, Regis Blocker of Lucerne, Missouri; and many nieces, nephews, grand-nieces, grand-nephews, and cousins who will cherish her memory.

She was preceded in death by her husband Bernard Rezac, infant twin daughters, and siblings Angela Madden, Joseph Blocker, Mary Margaret Blocker, Edward (Leroy) Blocker, Patricia Blocker, Kevin Blocker, Murty Blocker, Felicia Boeckmann, and James Blocker.