Joy D. Nielsen, 71, of Cleghorn, Iowa passed away on Tuesday, January 4, 2022 at Heartland Care Center.
Memorial services will be held on Saturday, May 7, 2022 at 1:30 p.m. at Faith Lutheran Church in Marcus, Iowa. Burial will be in the Willow Creek Cemetery at Royal, Iowa at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 7, 2022. Pubic visitation with the family present will be held on Friday, May 6, 2022 from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the Cleghorn Community Center. Boothby Funeral Home of Cherokee, Iowa is assisting the family with arrangements. Online condolences may be left at www.boothbyfuneral.com.
Joy was born on July 11, 1950 to Arnold and LaDonna (Harms) Brown at Elmo, Missouri. She attended South Page Schools, graduating in 1968. She then attended Northwest Missouri State, Graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in English and Library Science.
Joy was married to Rick Nielsen on June 18, 1972 at Clarinda, Iowa. She taught at Grand Valley Schools while they lived in Lenox, Iowa before moving to Cleghorn. Joy taught for Meriden-Cleghorn and then MMC Schools for 31 years. She was the school librarian starting in 1976 and then taught in the resource room along with her librarian duties from 1981 until her retirement in 2007.
She is affiliated with the Faith Lutheran Church in Marcus, Iowa. Joy enjoyed being an election worker for Cherokee County, working numerous elections over the years.
Joy loved reading, watching TV, taking trips to Phoenix and Alexandria, Minnesota to Maple Lake. She enjoyed playing golf with her husband and in-laws. Joy liked traveling and attending St. Louis Cardinals baseball games.
Joy was preceded in death by her parents and her father-in-law, Herbert Nielsen.
She is survived by her husband, Rick of 49 years of Cleghorn, Iowa, daughter Jodi Nielsen and her fiancé Marcus Reeder of Phoenix, Arizona; brothers Eldon (Kathy) Brown of Overland Park, Kansas and Roger (Rosanne) Brown of Des Moines, Iowa; mother-in-law Eleanor Nielsen of Spencer, Iowa; two brothers-in-law John Nielsen of Des Moines, Iowa and Tony Nielsen of Linn Grove, Iowa; and several nieces and nephews.