Joan M. Palen 1922-2008

HOFFMANN, PALEN, ELLIOTT, HEMMER, KAHLER, FOLEY

Posted By: Volunteer
Date: 3/18/2008 at 08:53:42

By The Associated Press

Joan M. Palen

Joan M. (Hoffmann) Palen, 85, of 1180 Cerro Drive, died Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2008, at the home of her daughter, Joan, in Boulder, Colo., surrounded by family.

Services will be at 11:30 a.m. Saturday at St. Anthony Catholic Church.

She was born on Sept. 15, 1922, in Dubuque, daughter of Herbert and Ovilla Hoffmann. Joan graduated from the Academy of the Visitation in 1940. She graduated from nurses training at St. John's School of Nursing in Springfield, Ill., in 1943.

Joan was a proud Veteran of World War II serving as a 1st Lt. Nurse in the Army from 1944 to 1946, in France, England and Germany.

She married Louis Palen in July of 1953. Joan worked for many years in various nursing positions, including as a school nurse in Dubuque. She loved working with all children. She retired in 1984.

Joan loved the outdoors, particularly fishing and bird watching. She had a passion for life and always enjoyed family and friends and her hobbies of cards, gambling, traveling and fishing, fishing, fishing.

Joan was a very special person to many people. Whether you called her your Naanie, your Dodo, your mom or your friend, she had a unique way of making each of us feel special and loved. That attribute, coupled with her sweetness and silly sense of humor, will long be remembered and carried in our hearts forever.

Joan is survived by her children, Stephen (Sandy) Palen, of Milwaukee, and their sons, Louis, Lance and Kevin, Joan Palen (Dave Haukeness) and their daughter, Alec, of Boulder, Colo., Barbara Kahler (Bill), daughter Morgan and sons, Robbie and Dalton Foley, all of Dubuque; her special niece, Lynne Hemmer; her sister Ovilla (Billie) Hemmer; and many special nieces and nephews and great nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Louis in 1975; two brothers, Herbert Jr. and Matt Hoffmann; and a sister, Mary Elliott.

Copyright (c) Woodward Communications, Inc. 2008, All Rights Reserved. Dubuque Telegraph Herald, February 5, 2008