Joann Clausen

JoAnn Clausen, 58, was born on December 4, 1953, in Boone, Iowa and passed away on May 30, 2012 at Israel Family Hospice House in Ames, Iowa.

She dealt with ovarian cancer for almost 4 years, but DID NOT lose to it. God and JoAnn won. JoAnn was able to reconnect with friends because of cancer, spend more time with her family, enjoy going to church more often, and have time for devotionals. She let everyone know what they meant to her and found out what she meant to them. How can you lose this way?

A Celebration of Life will be held 2:00 p.m. Saturday, June 16, 2012, at Trinity Lutheran Church in Boxholm. Rev. Rod Meyer will officiate. Visitation will be Friday, June 15, from 5:00 until 8:00 p.m., at the Church. Carson - Stapp Funeral Home in Ogden is in charge of the arrangements.

JoAnn grew up in Pilot Mound, IA and has lived in the Pilot Mound/Boxholm area since 1974. She graduated from Grand Community School in Boxholm in 1972. She attended Iowa Central Community College, studied business classes and took her first job at the Iowa State University personnel office in Ames. JoAnn married her high school sweetheart, Jay on September 14, 1974. She stayed home to raise her two children until they were in school and then took a job with Grand Community Schools, cooking hot lunch for the children, which was her favorite job of all. She was able to see her own children throughout the day and had the pleasure of watching the whole community's children grow up. She stayed at that job for 9 years. She worked in Dining Services at Iowa State University from 1995-2006. In the fall of 2006 she transferred to the College of Human Services and worked at the Joan Bice Underwood tearoom on ISU campus. JoAnn worked there until the fall of 2008, when she was advised by doctors to discontinue working.

Her hobbies were spending as much time as she could with her children and her three granddaughters. They were the love of her life and she had waited patiently to be a grandma. Other hobbies included: shopping, working in the garden, reading, spending time with her friends, and her Labrador dogs, Halle B and Hunter, and granddog Porter. When her working days were over she so enjoyed getting back in touch with friends and church friends in the area whom she felt she deserted after spending all her days on the road with different work schedules.

JoAnn is survived by her husband, Jay and their two children, Bryan (Sara) Clausen of Rochester, MN, and Jill Clausen Rudloff of Ankeny, IA. Granddaughters, Drew and Blair Clausen, and Gabryel Rudloff. Parents Harold and Nanette Dunkelberger, one brother David (Renae) Dunkelberger, two sisters Joyce (Cliff) Wilson, Julie (Larry) Lockwood, brother in law Roy (Roberta) Clausen, sisters in laws, Sharon Laughlin and Sharon Clausen. Also surviving are many nieces and nephews, hundreds of friends and three special dogs, Halle B, Hunter, and Porter.

She was preceded in death by her paternal grandparents, Daniel and Blanch Dunkelberger; her maternal grandparents, Bill and Ida Pestotnik; her father and mother-in-law, Vernon and Arlene Clausen; an aunt, Norma Wilson; an uncle, Everette Dunkelberger, two brother-in-laws, Stanley Laughliln and Ray Clausen; and a nephew, Erik Laughlin.

Memorials may be left to either: Trinity Lutheran Church in Boxholm, Bliss Cancer Center of Ames, or the Israel Family Hospice House of Ames.