Joan Ahrndt

Joan Ahrndt was a woman who loved to spend her days outdoors, under a clear blue sky, fishing her days away. Joan loved to fish, and loved to share her loves with all those around her even more. She was a free-wheeling, fun-loving woman, a big lady with a bigger heart, a heart she shared with all who knew her.

Joan’s story began on a cool fall day in 1939, in the charming city of Germantown, Pennsylvania. Those were anxious times in this country, which was just beginning to find its footing following the hardships of the Great Depression, and Americans anxiously watched as the world went to war yet again. On September 21, 1939, Ernest and Catherine (Trucksess) Ashbaugh celebrated the birth of a baby girl, a daughter they named Joan.

Joan was joined by her little brother Ernie in the family home, which thanks to her dad’s various jobs, was located all over when she was growing up. Times were often tough for the family, but they always seem to make do.

From the time she was old enough to hold a pole, Joan fell in love with fishing, the family’s favorite pastime. It was also a hobby that she thoroughly enjoyed that she picked up as a little girl that spanded her lifetime.

Joan’s childhood wasn’t without its challenges, though. When she was 13, Joan contracted polio, which she survived but would leave its mark on her. Not long after her recovery, the family packed up and moved once again, to Menominee, Michigan, in the Upper Peninsula.

Joan began attending Menominee High School, and while she was a good student, she found more than an education in Menominee.

When she was a junior in high school, she made friends with a girl named Lenora Ahrndt. One day Lenora’s brother John asked his sister if she had any good-looking friends. So Lenora set them up on a blind date, going to a drive-in movie. It was a warm night, and Joan had dressed for a cold evening, because she was so nervous. But the sparks flew between them, and it was love at first sight.

Joan and John dated for the next two years, and on her high school graduation day, John presented her with an engagement ring! John came to the graduation and walked up to her and asked for her hand in marriage. She cried, and was very proud, and of course, had to show all her girlfriends, too!

The happy couple was married on May 3, 1958, beginning so many wonderful years together. They settled right there in Menominee at first, where they soon started their family, too. Their daughter Colleen was born in 1959, and their son John Jr. was born in 1960.

The family packed up and moved to the Detroit suburb of Utica, Michigan in 1961. Joan's father had taken a job in Utica and John and Joan went also until John got his job in Parchment. They weren’t too excited about leaving the beautiful Upper Peninsula, but they did it, anyway, and crossed the Mackinac Bridge on a blustery January day and moved to Utica. They weren’t there long, though, as John took a job at Kalamazoo Vegetable Parchment in 1959, and they moved there.

In 1964, the couple had their third child, their baby son Steven, who sadly only survived for 24 hours, and died on April 1, 1964. Though they were together so briefly, Joan thought about Steven often the rest of her life.

In addition to caring for her family, Joan worked outside the home, selling magazine subscriptions and working a number of various jobs, helping make ends meet. As hard as she worked, she never let her family suffer because of it, though. She was a wonderful wife and mother, and a very supportive parent, too. Joan was president of the Oakwood Little League, and active in the Girl Scouts and Cub Scouts.

She was a great cook, too, a true magician in the kitchen, who could conjure up delicious meals out of thin air, and from whatever was in the cupboards!

Naturally, Joan was always happy when fish was on the menu. She maintained her love for fishing throughout her lifetime, and taught her kids to fish, too, with so many wonderful days spending bonding together, lines in the water. Joan loved catching bass and bluegills, her favorite fish. She’d even use the bathtub in her home occasionally as her live well, so John Jr. could help her clean the fish! He fondly remembers going into the bathroom and being surprised to find bass swimming around the bathtub!

Joan was a very outdoorsy woman, who loved camping, fishing and hunting, too. She enjoyed going hunting up north in Menominee and in Nathan, Michigan, where John grew up, and even got a buck once, too.

The family moved to Plainwell in 1975, and Joan retired from working outside the home then. She had plenty to fill her time, and led a very active lifestyle. Joan was a very fun-loving woman, who loved going bowling or golfing, and enjoyed playing Bingo, too. She was quite a partier, and always the life of the party. Joan and John traveled some over the years, too, especially their unforgettable trip to Hawaii in 1976, a trip he won from at his workplace.

Joan was slowed in 1992, when she had to have her hip replaced. Her recovery didn’t go as planned, and she needed to use a wheelchair from then on. She focused on her home, which she filled with her precious China dolls and elephant figurines (she loved watching Animal Planet, too).

Most of all, Joan loved being with her family, especially her beloved grandkids who she absolutely adored. The birth of each of them, Melanie, Bo, Keara, and T.J., were the greatest days of her life.

Joan loved those grandbabies as if they were her own. She would watch all four of them at a time and loved every minute of it. She cooked for them and basically raised them during the day. She even bought an above ground pool for them and swam in it everyday she could with those kids. She spent more money on those grandbabies than Carter has pills. (As the old saying goes). Those kids were her #1 priority once they came into this world. With every birth she was even happier. She would go to soccer games for the kids, and cheerleading events for the older granddaughter. She made a ginger bread house with them that was amazing. There was nothing she could not do as far as cooking or crafts for them. She even made their costumes for Halloween. Those kids were her life.

Now that she has three great grandchildren and one on the way, she was even prouder than ever! To watch her grandbabies have children meant more to her than anything. Unfortunately, this was at the point that her health started to deteriorate.

Sadly, Joan passed away on April 1, 2008, at the age of 68. She died on the same day as her infant son Steven, and she in now able to hold her baby boy at last.

She will be greatly missed by all that knew her.

Joan is survived by her husband John, her children, Colleen Gregersen, of Plainwell; John Jr. (Barbara) Ahrndt, of FL; and 4 grandchildren: Melanie (Keith) Jepsen, Bo Jack (girlfriend Nicole Drewyor)MacDonald, Keara (Daniel) McIntyre, T.J Ahrndt. Joan S. Ahrndt, age 68 passed away April 1, 2008. Learn more about Joan, view her Life Story film, and visit with her family and friends Friday from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Life Story Funeral Home, RDMG, Plainwell Chapel 120 S. Woodhams. Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at the same location.

Please visit Joan’s memory page at www.lifestorynet.com, where you can read her life story, archive a favorite memory or photo, sign her memory book online before coming to the funeral home. The family has requested no flowers. Please make a memorial donation to the American Diabetes Association.