Joyce Wick Stemsrud, 79, Fergus Falls, MN
1927 - 2006
Stemsrud
Joyce Wick Stemsrud, 79, of Fergus Falls, died Sunday, Dec. 10, 2006, at Lake Region Hospital, Fergus Falls.
She was born May 3, 1927, in Fargo, the daughter of Joseph and Cora (Baarsgaard) Wick. She lived in Fargo until age five and then moved with her family to Moorhead. She graduated from Moorhead High School in 1944 and then attended Concordia College, graduating in 1948 with a home economics teaching degree.
Joyce began teaching in Elbow Lake and continued her career in Edina, Fergus Falls and Bemidji.
On June 16, 1956, she married Allan Stemsrud in Fargo-Moorhead and embraced the community of Fergus Falls as her home ever since. She raised her family of two children here and was active in First Lutheran Church, Circle, and the PEO.
Joyce thoroughly enjoyed her second career, working with her husband at Stem and Em Drug Store in downtown Fergus Falls. She and Al recently became residents of the Pioneer Pointe community.
She loved life, her family, the outdoors, birds, walking, bicycling, sewing and making new friends. She was an amazing cook with a true gift for making all feel welcome and all feel comfortable. Joyce was well known by all she came in contact with for her warm, compassionate spirit and ever-present smile. She knew no strangers, only friends she had not yet met.
She was preceded in death by her parents; and her sister, Grace (Clifford) Svidal.
Joyce is survived by her husband of 50 years, Allan, of Fergus Falls; son, Arne (wife Happy) Stemsrud of Steamboat Springs, Colo.; and daughter, Jody (John) Stemsrud Hereford of Boulder, Colo.
In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred to the Salvation Army and First Lutheran Church.
Visitation: Thursday from 5 to 7 p.m. at the funeral home and one hour prior to the service at the church
Service: 11 a.m. Friday at First Lutheran Church, Fergus Falls
Clergy: Rev. Matt Philaya and Chaplain Harry Olson
Burial: Kinkead Cemetery, Alexandria
Funeral home: Olson Funeral Home, Fergus Falls