Johanna Ament

AMENT, HOGAN, SMITH

Posted By: cheryl moonen (email)
Date: 12/10/2014 at 14:04:16

Telegraph Herald (Dubuque, IA) - Thursday, March 13, 1997

DYERSVILLE, Iowa - Johanna Ament, 87, of Dyersville, died Tuesday, March 11, l997, at the Keokuk (Iowa) Convalescent Home.

Services will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at St. Francis Xavier Basilica, Dyersville, with burial in St. Francis Cemetery. The Rev. Ed Petty will be presiding at the Mass with Monsignor Ernest Ament, the Rev. Dick Ament and Abbot Brendan Freeman concelebrating. Friends may call from 2 to 9 p.m. Friday at Kramer Funeral Home, Dyersville, where there will be a parish rosary scripture service at 7 p.m.

Mrs. Ament was born on May 7, 1909, in Manchester, daughter of Bernard and Josephine (Hogan) Smith. Johanna married Lester J. Ament on April, 20, 1932, in Hopkinton. They celebrated their 61st wedding anniversary in 1993.

Johanna grew up in Castle Grove, attending the former Visitation Academy, Dubuque, as a boarding student in grades 2-12, graduating in 1927. She graduated from the St. Joseph School of Nursing, Chicago, in 1930.

She was involved in community health projects for many years, including serving on the committee that established the Dyersville Area Community Hospital; and the opening of Oak Crest Manor Nursing Home, where she was the first director and head nurse. She later worked as a school nurse at Western Dubuque School, Epworth, for five years.

Johanna served on the National Catholic Rural Life Conference Board under Monsignor Liguitti and Bishop Edward O'Rourke. In recognition of her work with the National Council of Catholic Women, serving as Parish, Deanery and Archdiocesan President and on the National Nominating Committee, she was awarded the Lactare Medal and the title of Papal Dame by the Pope.

Until her stroke ten years ago, she was an active member of St. Francis Xavier Parish for 54 years and was a member of the St. Teresa Study Club. She helped found the Matthias M. Hoffman Library, Dyersville, and was active in the Democratic Party and the Dyersville Golf and Country Club.

For 13 years, Johanna was a supervisor in her independent Shaklee Distributorship and served hundreds of eastern Iowans. She enjoyed quilting, playing bridge and was well known for her culinary dinners, serving many festive celebrations where music and family song fests followed.

Surviving are three daughters, JoAnn (Paul) Hesselmann, of Tolono, Ill., Marilyn (Michael) Frank, of Cedar Rapids, and Marie Therese (Fred) O'Brien, of Keokuk; 17 grandchildren,; 35 great-grandchildren, a brother-in-law, Right Rev. Monsignor Ernest P. Ament, of Bellevue; and a sister-in-law, Bernadine Geisler, of Dubuque.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Les, on Aug. 12, 1993.

Memorials may be given to St. Francis Xavier Basilica, New Melleray Trappist Monastery and Hospice of Lee County, 2218 Ave. H., Fort Madison, Iowa, 52627.