Jo B Vitatoe Obituary

Jo Ann Bessie Cramer Vitatoe
Jo Ann Bessie Cramer Vitatoe, 84, went home to be with her Heavenly Father, on June 15, 2025 while sleeping peacefully at home, in Mountain Home, Idaho. She had been battling Alzheimer's, Leukemia, Brain Tumors and Lesions for many years and recently gallbladder issues. She was a survivor of bladder cancer as well.
She was born on January 4, 1941 in Rigby, Jefferson County, Idaho, to Harris William Cramer and Bessie Elizabeth Loynd Hills Cramer.
Jo Ann grew up and attended schools in Emmett, ID, Sisters, OR and was a 1959 graduate of Mtn. Home High School. She was in girl scouts and participated in theater.
She met in April 1969, and later married the love of her life, Stephen Andrew Vitatoe, while she was waitressing at the Tollgate Cafe. He stopped in for lunch and he was entranced by her beauty and conversation skills. From then on they were inseperable, and married on August 16, 1969 in her parents house in Mtn. Home, ID. They had 2 children, Stephannie Ann and Robert Drew Vitatoe.
Jo Ann had joined the Navy right out of HS and was sent to Washington DC for Basic training. She didn't realize at the time that you had to be able to swim, which she never mastered, this cut short her Naval career. She worked at the local radio station in Mtn. Home as well as was a waitress at the Tollgate Cafe and the El Rancho restaurants. Working multiple jobs at a time. She was also employed at March AFB and Griffis AFB as a keypunch/receptionist. Later in life you would see her knocking on doors as an Avon representative, and
she also cleaned houses to earn a little extra income.
Jo Ann's love for her children had no bounds. She supported them in whatever endeavors they vested themselves in and loved them unconditionally. She was even a brownie leader at one time for her daughter.
Jo Ann was a proud member of the LDS church and most recently of the 5th ward. She made sure that she acted according to her church docterine and did a lot of her familie's temple work. She was the director of the Geneology Family History Library at the church for many years and then worked in the ward library until her health declined to let her. She also held the title of our families historian, as she could recall and tell you who were related to and how and thier birthdates and thier children ect. She was what we call a geneology expert.
She loved children and doing things with them. She would play with them doing sommersaults in her late 70's even. She liked to do crossword puzzles and crochet when she wasn't researching geneology lines. Travel was also one of her loves as she traveled to Germany, England, Holland and The Netherlands. Jo Ann embraced life as a military wife, getting to live and travel within the U.S.. Living on many military bases throughout the our country.
Jo Ann was made a grandmother and even great grandmother and found a lot of joy in them, taking them places like Sea World and Bucsh Gardens in FL and the Grand Canyon. She enjoyed her family and developed a very close relationship with her great niece Jennifer and her husband, Adrian and her cousin Mae.
She loved animals and worked as a volunteer at a no kill shelter in FL. She was your typical cat lady and has rescued and fed thousands of cats in her lifetime, as they had a special place in her heart. She named most every one of them and made sure that they were shown love, maybe for the first time in thier lives.
Jo Ann is survived by her daughter: Stephannie Kobal, her son: Robert Vitatoe, grandchildren: Adam, Trinity and Christian Vitatoe, great grandchildren: Micah, Laniakea and Noah-Dawn Vitatoe, Brother: John Cramer, Niece: Jennifer (Adrian) Barker, cousin: Mae Ross, Brother in law: Larry Vitatoe, sister in law: Bettye Vitatoe, her beloved fur baby Katrina and many many nieces, nephews and cousins.
She was preceded in death by her husband Stephen, her parents Harris and Bessie Cramer, mother and father in law Arval Sr. and Thelma Vitatoe, Sisters & Brothers in laws: Oneita Hills (Oliver II) Carpentier, Betty Hills (Raleigh) Tyndall, Edna Hills (Birl) Watkins and Arval "Tom" Vitatoe Jr., Brothers and Sisters in law: Don Hills, De Wayne (Lena) Cramer and Rosalie Cramer, a granddaughter: Emberlin Jo Ann Kobal, nieces: Aloha Coester and Patricia Mooney and nephews: Alfred, Ronnie and Dennie Carpentier, Randy and Cordell Tyndall and Buddy Schweitzer.
The family would like to thank Adrian Barker, Paula Ermeling, Tracy White and April Allen for the care they gave Jo Ann. We would also like to thank Seonalynn at Rost for the honest, loving care she took of us in this time.
Funeral services will be held on Friday June 27th, 2025 at Rost Funeral Home, with graveside services afterwards at Mountain View Cemetery in Mtn. Home, ID. Jo Ann and her husband Stephen, will be
interred together, with him in her arms. In love and together forever in this life and the next.