Joan Helen Livingston Prouty was born in Council Bluffs, Iowa on February 20, 1931 to Col Walter and Helen Marie Livingston and passed away in Huntsville, Texas on August 28, 2022.

As an "Army Brat", she lived in many different places in Texas, Louisiana, Kansas, Iowa and Japan. She often laughed about how she had gone to thirteen different schools before graduating from high school back in her hometown of Council Bluffs. She attended college at William Woods Women's College and The University of Iowa with a degree in Speech Pathology and Audiology.

Joan met her future husband, John "Jack", at college and they were married after graduation. They moved to Texas where they raised their family in Houston, Plano and Huntsville. She received a M.A in Reading from Sam Houston State University, and a PhD in Reading and Education Psychology from Texas A&M. She was a professor at SHSU until her retirement in 2008.

Educating young people was her life's passion, whether it was working as a speech pathologist in Plano, tutoring young readers while going to school, teaching teachers as a professor, or reading to her own grandchildren as often as she could. She was very proud of her career at SHSU and was especially proud of a scholarship that was supported in part by the annual Joan Prouty Early Literacy Conference.

Joan grew up knowing that she could be anything she wanted to be in this world. She has left a strong legacy in encouraging and supporting her family to reach for their goals.

She was an active member of Huntsville Audubon, First United Methodist Church and the Inquirer's class, American Association of University Women, several book clubs and other organizations.

She is preceded in death by her mother Helen (who died when Joan was six), father Walter, step-mother Harriet, step-brother Richard, husband John "Jack", and children Elizabeth, Richard and Stanley.

She is survived by her children, Stephen (Vicki), Michael (Penny), Patrick (Nida) and Anne-Marie (Katie), grandchildren Heather (Ron), Brooke (Cameron), Hannah (Jess) and Amber, and eight great-grandchildren.

A memorial service is scheduled on Friday, October 7, 2022 at 2:00 pm at First United Methodist Church, 1016 Sam Houston Avenue, Huntsville, TX 77340.

Donations to support the Joan Prouty Early Literacy Conference may be made online at www.Shsu.edu, University Advancement, or checks payable to SHSU (conference in notation), at Division of University Advancement, Box 2537, Huntsville, TX 77341-2537.

Donations may also be made to MRC Creekside at www.mrccreekside.org/giving or at 1433 Veterans Memorial Pkwy, Huntsville, TX. 77340.