Joan Lucille (Madsen) Meier

Joan Lucille (Madsen) Meier

Joan Lucille (Madsen) Meier, 91, of Geneseo, passed away unexpectedly on Saturday, April 7, 2018, at the Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, IL, while visiting relatives. Funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, April 13, at First Congregational Church, Geneseo. Reverend Bruce Bergthold will officiate. Burial will follow at Oakwood Cemetery, Geneseo. Visitation will be held from 4:00 – 7:00 p.m., on Thursday, April 12, at Vandemore Funeral Home and as well as one hour prior to the service at the church (10:00 – 11:00 a.m.) on Friday. Memorials may be left to the First Congregational Church, Geneseo or charity of donor’s choice.

Joan was born on January 7, 1927, the daughter of, Alfred and Verda (Johnson) Madsen, in Princeton, IL. Growing up on the family farm in Sheffield, Illinois, she learned how to preserve fruits and vegetables as well as deliver milk, in a horse drawn wagon. She graduated from Sheffield High School with the class of 1944. In 1948 she graduated from Iowa State University with a degree in Home Economics Education. On November 11, 1951 she was united in marriage to Donald Ernest Meier at the Sheffield Methodist Church. Joan taught Home Economics in Monmouth, Cambridge, Tiskilwa and Geneseo, Illinois.  Joan was a very active homemaker and volunteer.  She was a skilled seamstress and cook, well known for her frozen sweet corn, ham balls and Danish pepper nuts by those fortunate to eat in the family home. Joan volunteered with 4H, as a Cub Scout Den Leader and as a Girl Scout Leader, participated in Home Bureau and Home Economics Clubs and was active in church. She belonged to the Sheffield Methodist Church, St. Peter United Church of Christ, Geneseo, and most recently the First Congregational Church of Geneseo. Most importantly she was a loving wife and mother of two children, grandmother of five and great-grandmother of two.

Those left to cherish her memory include her husband, Donald Meier, her son, Robert (Emily) Meier, Montesano, WA, her daughter, Janet (David) Landeweer, Arlington Heights, IL, grandchildren, Daniel (Zandile) Meier, Bothell, WA, Ryan (Elena) Meier, Woodinville, WA, Julia (Evan) Rush, Stillwater, OK, Steven Landeweer, Miami, FL, and Jonathan Landeweer, Arlington Heights, IL, great-grandchildren David Meier and Jobe Meier, sister, Marilyn Wilkerson, Elk Grove Village, IL and a brother, Richard Madsen, Carlsbad, CA.