Joyce Lonergan (1934-2006)

LONERGAN, JACOBI, DUDA, HUTCHINSON, NEWBERG, TEDESCO, DAVIS, KENNEDY, HOWARD, PIKE, BECK

Posted By: Ames Tribune
Date: 1/19/2006 at 20:20:26

THE AMES TRIBUNE, Ames, Story County, Iowa, Thursday, January 19, 2006.

Joyce Lonergan, 71, of Boone died Tuesday, Jan. 17, at Israel Family Hospice House in Ames. A Funeral Mass will be at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 21, at Church of the Sacred Heart in Boone with the Rev. Steve Brodersen officiating. Following the service, the body will be cremated and the cremains will be buried at a later date in Sacred Heart Cemetery in Boone.
Joyce was born March 5, 1934, on a farm near Belle Plaine in Benton County, the first-born of Robert and Fannie (Duda) Jacobi. She attended country school, Longfellow grade school, and Belle Plaine Junior High. Her mother married Charles "Peck" Hutchinson, and the family moved to Boone in 1947. She married Paul Lonergan Aug. 12, 1950, at the Little Brown Church in Nashua. She graduated from Boone High School in 1952 and took numerous classes at DMACC during her life.

She always said her greatest accomplishment was helping Paul raise their four children who grew to adulthood learning to give back to society. Paul died of a motorcycle accident Aug. 2, 1977. In earlier years, she was a 4-H leader, Cub Scout den mother, Campfire sponsor and home and school president at Sacred Heart School in Boone.

She served in the Iowa House of Representatives for 12 years from 1974-86. From 1986-98, she was Boone County recorder. She was active in Boone County Democratic politics for many years and worked on many congressional and political campaigns. The highlight of her political career was lunch at the White House with President Jimmy Carter in 1980. She received the Boone County Democrats Everett Brown Award in 2002 and won the Women Helping Women Award from Soroptimists International in 1977. She enjoyed hosting strangers in her home, journalists Elena from Russia and Hunda from Mongolia, Little League players and Andrea Mora from Ecuador became her fifth child during the 1989-90 school year when she served as a host family in the Foreign Exchange Program.

She was a 25-year member of ABWA, serving in every capacity, Boone County Historical Society, Boone Railroad Society, American Legion Auxiliary, the Boone Area Humane Society and the Purple Hat Guild. She also was an active member of Church of the Sacred Heart in Boone and Sioux City Diocese Council of Catholic Women, and a former president of Boone Church Women United. She served as chairman of the board of directors for Boone County Community Credit Union for two years. She owned "The Book Store" at 504 Benton Street in Boone. It was her favorite business interest because she met so many others who shared her love of books.

After she retired, she wrote a monthly article for Senior Sounds in the Boone News Republican. Most were about her family and her dog, Gladys. Joyce was able to travel to the USSR, Africa, several countries in Europe and Ecuador in South America. Her favorite trip was with her sister in 1993 when they went to the Czech Republic and visited relatives. (The house where her grandmother was born is still in the family.) She had many hobbies, including reading, politics, traveling, playing bridge and pinochle, and following her grandchildren's activities.

She was preceded in death by her father; her stepfather Charles "Peck" Hutchinson; and her husband, Paul Lonergan.

She is survived by two sons, Patrick Lonergan and his wife, Terri, of Wichita, Kan., and Peter Lonergan and his wife, Nancy, of Boone; two daughters, Kathleen Lonergan and Staci Newberg of Boone; her mother, Fannie Hutchinson of Boone; one brother, R. Dean Jacobi of Polk City; one sister, Joanne Tedesco and husband, Ted of Ames; three stepsisters, Delores Davis and her husband, Jim, and Joyce Kennedy all of Yuma, Ariz., and JoEllen Howard and husband, Don, of Boone; one brother-in-law, Don Lonergan and his wife, Charlotte, of Boone; one sister-in-law, Mary Pike of Ogden; five grandchildren, Heather Beck and husband, Michael, of Rusk, Texas, Hannah Lonergan of Wichita, Kan., Carly Lonergan, Mallory Lonergan and Taylor Newberg of Boone; and numerous cousins, nieces and nephews.

Friends may call from 2 to 9 p.m. Friday at Church of the Sacred Heart in Boone where the family will be present from 7 to 9 p.m. A vigil service will be at 8 p.m. Visitation will continue from 8 to 10 a.m. Saturday at Schroeder Memorial Chapel at Sixth and Marshall in Boone.

Memorials may be given to Sacred Heart School Foundation or the Children's Room of the Ericson Public Library in Boone.

Schroeder Memorial Chapel at Sixth and Marshall Streets in Boone is in charge of arrangements.

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