Biography: Joan Ellen Slaughter Powell McCaskill (Joanie) died June 26th at the age of 90. She was born to Horace and Maude Slaughter, and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. She was predeceased by her parents and her two older sisters, Janey and Barbara. 

Joanie graduated from the University of Kentucky with a Bachelors of Education and taught in the Louisville Public Schools after graduation. There she met Robbie Powell and they married and moved to Memphis, Tennessee where their two children were born. In 1963 the family moved to Robbie’s hometown of Little Rock where Joanie became an Arkie for life. She and Robbie remained married until his death in 1983. 

A stay at home mom in the 60’s and 70’s, Joanie volunteered at Pulaski Heights Presbyterian Church, the 20th Century Club, the Stewpot, and at her children’s schools. She and Robbie had fun for many years with friends at the Racquet Club while also traveling and attending Razorback games. 

In 1996, she married Austin McCaskill and they enjoyed traveling, golf, and many dinners and parties with friends. She remained married to Austin until his death in 2017. 

She cared for both Robbie and Austin with wonderful devotion and diligence during their illnesses until their deaths. 

Joanie was an avid sports fan, particularly Razorback baseball and basketball, as well as professional tennis and golf. She followed not only UA and Kentucky sports but also the alma maters of her grandkids and other people special to her. Her family will miss her excited, or dejected (depending on the game’s outcome), phone calls immediately following tense games as well as her insistence that all stand during the playing of “My Old Kentucky Home” while watching the Kentucky Derby. 

As she grew older she especially enjoyed her role as Grandma and Great-Grandma, and welcomed into the world with enthusiasm each new family member. 

Joanie enjoyed helping others and spent many years on the pastoral care committee at Second Presbyterian Church. She enjoyed Thursday night margarita group and Friday bridge games with the girls; a nightly vodka tonic with Pub Mix, weekly catfish sandwiches and working the daily sudoku puzzle. 

Most of all, Joanie had fun. She liked people and invested herself fully in others and in her church. She laughed often, and her kids and grandkids will miss her “unfiltered” comments on topics far and wide as well as her famously mispronounced words. 

She is survived by her two children, Ellen Yeary (Jim) and Danny Powell (Sloan), along with four grandchildren, Mack Yeary (Jackie), Henry Yeary (Emily Dehr), Robbie Powell (Chelsea) and Gigi Powell. She was a great-grandmother to Grayson and Brooks Yeary and Marvin Powell; as well as Aunt to nieces Jane Ellen Fay, Barbara Rogers (David) and Beth Donnelly (Adam). She also leaves behind a group of others she helped raise whom she referred to simply as “my kids”.  

Memorials may be made to The Stewpot, PO Box 2278, Little Rock, AR 72203 or the Winthrop Rockefeller Cancer Institute, 449 Jack Stephen’s Drive, Little Rock, AR 72205. 

A memorial service will be held at Second Presbyterian Church on Thursday, July 2nd at 1:30 p.m. with a reception to follow at the Church. Arrangements are under the direction of RuebelFuneralHome.com