All these are threads that were part of Joan Loney that added up to a life well-lived. That earthly life of 94 years ended Tuesday morning. She fell asleep on Monday and awoke in heaven with a joyous surprise of a healthy mind and body. On that best of days, she met Jesus and attended a long-awaited family reunion.

Joan was born in Aurora, Missouri and was part of The Greatest Generation; which provided the strong framework for her life. After church one Sunday Joan was having a Coke in the local drugstore when she first heard about the bombs that had fallen on Pearl Harbor. Wartime issues became intertwined with her high school joys; activities such as paper drives, becoming homecoming queen, student body president and editor of the school newspaper filled her life.

It’s hard to tell Joan’s story without telling part of Curt’s. She met Curtis Torkel Loney in a class at MCC. He was a blond local boy who had just returned from serving in the Navy. Love quickly developed between the two and they married in 1947; starting a family soon after. From that point on, they were together both at home and at work after purchasing a mom and pops grocery store on North 13th Street. Successful at this, they enlarged their business to become Curt’s Royal Blue where they made grocery deliveries and kept note of charges in a stenographer’s pad. Joan detested math, but she ended up as the bookkeeper helping to make the business a success. She made potato salad and baked beans to sell out of the meat case in the summer, and opened a holiday shop within the store during November and December where she crafted high-end fruit baskets and other gifts.

The times were changing, however, and they decided to sell Curt’s and start a chain of convenience stores named after their first grandchild. During these years, they also traveled a lot following their son’s sports career and the extracurricular activities of their five grandchildren. All of their grandchildren were city kids and were gifted the opportunity of weekends at the newly purchased farm, which they called Oak Hills Charolais Ranch, named for the Charolais cattle they raised there. Each day they would come home from work, change into their grubby clothes and did what they called “the fence walk.” With drinks in-hand they would walk and collaborate as they made plans for the herd. God blessed their business ventures all throughout their lives. But there were challenging times too. Lightning struck Curt’s Royal Blue and completely destroyed it. There were transitions into the computer age and working with their employees; both their greatest joy and sometimes their biggest problem. As they moved throughout their business lives, Joan was almost always behind the scenes but always playing an equally important role as Curt. They not only taught their kids and grandkids the importance of having a stellar work ethic and high integrity, but they modeled it on a daily basis.

Through all of her adult years, Joan was a gardener; winning state awards and studying for and becoming a judge for garden club at both the local and state levels. Music was another love of Joan’s life and she exhibited this mostly at church by being a member of the choir, singing solos and later directing junior high handbell choirs; it was one way she served God. As well as sharing her love of music at church, she was also a member of Tuesday Musical and Dreamettes.

Family pets were extremely important to Joan throughout her life, owning 10-12 different ones over the years including dogs, cats, a bird and one Charolais calf that she bottle-fed until he got too large for a safe relationship. One of the most memorable was Bridget, who Joan called the ugliest dog ever born. But Bridget could hop like a bunny and she was much loved. The last pet she and Curt had together was a border collie named Babe who was so smart that Joan swore she could have learned to read. Joan was the model of a responsible pet owner, so all of the grandkids were able to enjoy and learn from the pets when they came to visit. Joan and Curt grieved all of their pets’ deaths, but especially Babe and they decided they would never adopt another as they couldn’t stand the pain of losing even one more. However, after Curt’s death, Joan took the advice of one of her granddaughter’s and adopted a puppy she named Tork after Curt’s middle name, Torkel. Her life was no longer lonely and as difficult as it was to take care of a puppy by herself, Joan was in love again. When she moved into assisted living, the biggest loss to her was Tork. She asked about him daily for years and in the last six months of her life she would sometimes travel around the grounds trying to find him somewhere in the building.

As many gifts as Joan was given by God, the gift she was to friends, associates and family far outnumbered them. It is our prayer that Joan’s life has and will continue to inspire virtues within the family she began so many years ago.

Joan is preceded in death by her parents, Clyde and Mary Endicott, her younger brother Dick, and her husband of 65 years, Curt.

She is survived by her daughter, Terri, of Marshalltown, her son Steve (Terri), of Lampe, Missouri; five grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren.

Graveside services will be 3:00 p.m. Saturday, August 27, 2022, at Riverside Cemetery in Marshalltown. Further arrangements are pending with Anderson Funeral Homes. Online condolences may be sent to www.andersonfhs.com.