Joyce Ewert

Joyce LaVon Boehringer Ewert, of Geneseo, Illinois, died on Tuesday, March 24, 2026 at the age 93.  A funeral service will be held on Friday, April 3, 2026 at Asbury United Methodist Church in Bettendorf, Iowa.  Visitation will be 10:00 am at the church with the service to follow at 11:00 am.  A lunch will be served immediately following the service. Burial will be in Oakwood Cemetery, Geneseo, Illinois. Memorials may be directed to Asbury United Methodist Church to support live-streaming worship services.  

The following words were written by Joyce.

Joyce was born on February 2, 1933, in Genoa, Colorado, the oldest child of Reverend Vernon and Esther (Burgert) Boehringer.  She moved to Leona, Kansas at the age of 3; Ponca City, Oklahoma at age 10; Oklahoma City at the age of 16 and Hillsboro, Kansas at age 17.  She met her future husband, Lowell Ewert, at Hillsboro High School.  They married on November 3, 1951. Lowell and Joyce were married for 66 years, until Lowell’s death in 2017.

Joyce learned early on the work of the United Methodist Church from her parents.  She started teaching Sunday School at 18 and continued into her 60’s.  She was a Bible School superintendent, played piano for worship and, with her husband, was a youth leader in Newton, Kansas and Geneseo, Illinois.

She was a stay-at-home mother until 1972, when she began working as the secretary at the First United Methodist Church in Geneseo.  In 1982, she started a sewing and alterations business that she ran out of her home until 2007.  During that time, she was also a school crossing guard at the corner of Chestnut and Congress Streets in Geneseo for 20 years.  This was a job she truly loved, greeting everyone who drove by with a friendly wave.   She knew the names of all the children who crossed her corner as well as the parents and bus drivers.  Most of those years, she did not have a car to sit in to stay warm, but braved the wind, rain, and snow while protecting the children as they crossed the street.  Also, during this time she accompanied Reverend Dagley for services at Good Samaritan Home, where she played the piano.  She was an election judge at Ward 1 in Geneseo for 20 years.

She loved sewing, starting at an early age on a Singer treadle sewing machine.  For many years, she sewed identical dresses for her four daughters for holidays, and later for her granddaughters. She sewed 3 wedding dresses for her daughters; 9 bridesmaids dresses; 3 mother-of-the-bride dresses.  She also quilted, did embroidery and counted cross-stitch table covers.  She made a quilt for each of her grandchildren in addition to doing piece work for several small businesses.  In 1982, she began making Christmas ornaments every year for her grandchildren, which grew into making ornaments for her entire family and friends, a practice she continued until her death.  She was blessed to have been able to keep reading, do cross-stitch and make felt Christmas ornaments.

She and her husband raised four beautiful daughters who brought four wonderful men into the family.  “Lowell and I must have done something right.  We have four beautiful, good daughters and four great sons-in-law”.

Joyce is survived by her daughters and their spouses, Cheryl Ewert (Dave Stedwell), Beverly (Richard) Anderson, Janelle (Bill) Dale, Virginia (Jay) Sears; five grandchildren, Luke (Lindsey) Sears, Natalie Anderson, Mallory (Ryan) Wirth, Hila Anderson (Austin Bridwell), Grant Anderson;  five great-grandchildren, Deklen and Kolter Sears, Wyatt Wirth, and Aria and Beckett Bridwell; and sister, Arlene (Bob) Miller.

The family would like to express our sincere thanks and deep appreciation to Compassus Hospice for their professional, respectful, and kind care of Joyce during the last week of her life.