JoEtta G. McClintock (DuBois)
1934 – 2023
JoEtta Gail DuBois was born on March 5, 1934, to Gordon Ellsworth and Rozella Beatrice DuBois (Olson) in Hamilton Ohio in the home of her paternal grandparents, Joe and Etta DuBois. JoEtta soon moved with her family to McCallsburg, Iowa to be closer to her maternal grandparents Martin G. and Frieda Olson and the birthplace of her mother near Story City, Iowa. JoEtta was an accomplished student, a star athlete on the women’s high school basketball team and dated a leather jacketed motorcyclist. She spent summers painting barns and detasseling corn and visiting her family’s fishing cabin on Lake Plantagenet, Bemidji Minnesota where she made lifelong friends. One of JoEtta’s favorite memories was playing for a semi-pro women’s basketball team in Iowa. She would laugh that the offense could not cross the mid-court line to defend, nor could the defenders help out on offense! She preferred the modern version of the game.
JoEtta’s father was a doctor and her mother a nurse, and she followed their footsteps into Medicine. She attended the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, studying medical technology. She was active in the Alpha Chapter of Pi Beta Phi sorority, where she was elected to serve as president during her junior year. That position led to her traveling alone to Florida for the national Pi Beta Phi convention and taking her very first trip on an airplane. It was the beginning of a love of adventure, and she traveled the world throughout her life. Following her graduation from college she married James T McClintock, a medical student whom she met in an organic chemistry class. Their courtship included canoe trips in the Boundary Waters of the Mississippi River and ski trips to Colorado, Utah, and Idaho. She worked as a medical technologist while Jim finished his studies at the University of Minnesota and upon his graduation they honeymooned in Europe.
The couple moved to Denver Colorado to be close to friends from U of M. They developed a love of the Rocky Mountains, where they enjoyed skiing, camping, and raising four children. In 1968 the family moved to Santa Barbara, California where Jim had been hired as head of Nuclear Medicine at the Cancer Foundation at Cottage Hospital. JoEtta was guided by a strong sense of fairness and justice, and she believed in giving back to one’s community. In Denver, she volunteered for Head Start and hosted pregnant unwed young women in need in her home, through a local program. In Santa Barbara she dedicated time to many organizations including CALM where she drove young women suffering from domestic abuse to safe houses. She also volunteered for Planned Parenthood, accompanying women to clinics, when they were seeking an abortion under dangerous circumstances. She would enlist her children to deliver donations to various locations including hauling bags of citrus fruit from her prolific orchard to Transition House. JoEtta was an active member of the Medical Auxiliary in Santa Barbara and of the National Charity League.
In 1977, JoEtta decided to return to her career as a medical technologist. Not only did she have to study and pass the California certification exams for Medical Technology, she had to learn entirely new technology and skills – such as flow cytometry – which had emerged in the 20 years since her previous job. With her California certification she took a position in the laboratory of Sansum Clinic where, in addition to making lifelong friends, she advocated on behalf of herself and her colleagues for better pay and working conditions. In retirement, JoEtta fulfilled a life goal to serve in the Peace Corps and was posted to Ecuador. JoEtta was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Jim, her son Michael G. McClintock, and her brother David D. DuBois MD. She is survived by her children James T. McClintock Jr, Elizabeth A. McClintock, David C. McClintock and daughter-in-law Toni McClintock, grandchildren Elizabeth B. McClintock, Rebecca C. Newsom (Devon), Madison A. McClintock, T’Lark Galeas, Julia R. McClintock, Matthew D. McClintock, Katherine M. McClintock and great grandson, Dax M. Newsom. A celebration of life will be held in January. Please RSVP to joettamcclintock@gmail.com if you are interested in attending. Information on date and location will be shared at that time.