Born August 7, 1933, Joan Kirkpatrick was the only child of John and Eleanor Kirkpatrick, founders of the Oklahoma City Community Foundation. She attended Classen High School, graduating in 1950. After attending Mount Vernon Junior College in Washington, D.C., and Colorado College, she graduated from Oklahoma City University with an English degree in 1954. Always passionate for arts and culture, Joan was involved in the local scene as an artist, sculptor and board member at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.
Joan learned early the importance of giving back to her community. Her volunteer work at St. Anthony's Bone and Joint Hospital, Free to Live animal shelter and the Oklahoma City Zoo are a testament to her strive to help others. Serving as chair of her family's private foundation, the Kirkpatrick Foundation, Joan focused its resources on areas of personal interest such as animal welfare and the environment.
Prior to her death in 2009, Joan established several endowment funds at the Oklahoma City Community Foundation to benefit her favorite animal welfare organizations. The Kirkpatrick Family Fund, an affiliated fund of the Oklahoma City Community Foundation, honored Joan's longtime support for the veterinary sciences with a gift to fund the Joan Kirkpatrick Chair in Small Animal Internal Medicine at the Oklahoma State University Center for Veterinary Health Sciences. In 2010, her son, Christian K. Keesee, brought together the two Kirkpatrick philanthropies to make a combined gift of $1 million to support the construction of the new Joan Kirkpatrick Animal Hospital at the Oklahoma City Zoo.
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2008 - Respect for Animals
2011 - Joan Kirkpatrick Animal Hospital at the Oklahoma City Zoo