Joanne Mary Hurd, 82
Joanne Mary Hurd age 82 of New Hampton, IA died Friday, February 28, 2020, at Linn Haven Rehab & Healthcare in New Hampton.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10:00 a.m. Tuesday, March 3, 2020, at Holy Family Catholic Church in New Hampton with Rev. Brian Dellaert officiating. Interment will be held at Calvary Cemetery, New Hampton with Kelly Merry, Sawyer Merry, Adam Shileny, Derick Jurgensen , Joe Line, and Kyle Rosbeck serving as pallbearers. Honorary pallbearers are Joanne’s grandchildren.
Friends may greet the family from 4:00 - 8:00 p.m. Monday, March 2, 2020, at Hugeback - Johnson Funeral Home & Crematory in New Hampton where there will be a 7:30 p.m. parish scripture service. Visitation continues an hour prior to the Mass at the church on Tuesday. Online condolences for Joanne's family may be left at hugebackfuneralhome.com
Joanne was born on March 22, 1937, to Ben and Clara (Hayek) Krall in New Hampton, where she grew up and attended New Hampton High School, where she was an excellent student, played the clarinet in the band and was a member of the Class of 1954.
Her dream was to follow in her mother’s footsteps and become a nurse, however, in those days, one had to be 18 to get into nursing school so she went to work as a secretary at C&H Farm Service.
Joanne’s life changed forever when she met a U.S. Navy seaman named Bill Hurd, who was home on leave and attending a dance in Lawler where Joanne and her friends were dancing the night away. When Bill returned to California to finish out his enlistment, Joanne wrote him a letter every single day and the Navy man knew he had met, as he puts it, a “keeper.”
The two exchanged vows on April 27, 1957, at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in New Hampton, and began their married life on a farm in Lawler. Their family quickly grew as they were blessed with seven children — Michael, Steve, Christopher (who died in infancy), Lisa, Barb, David and Sara — who remember their mother as someone “who was always taking care of everything and everybody.” Joanne helped her husband on the farm, made sure her kids got to all their activities and always had supper on the table.
Joanne and Bill loved to go to dances; in fact, almost every Saturday night, they’d hire two babysitters and head to the Inwood Ballroom or the Starlite Ballroom in Lawler for wedding dances. And they also loved to play cards, especially euchre, and travel.
In 1979, the couple moved to New Hampton, and Joanne loved to collect birdhouses and snowmen, especially the latter. One didn’t need to look outside to know it was winter in Iowa, for the Hurd home was filled with snowmen figurines and they ate off of snowmen plates.
Joanne loved her 14 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren, all of whom knew that grandma had plenty of treats ready for them when they visited.
She was a member of Holy Family Parish, the Catholic Daughters of the Americas and the American Legion Auxiliary, but what Joanne will be remembered most for is that she was in a loving marriage for almost 63 years and was an exceptional mother, grandmother and great-grandmother.
Joanne is survived by her husband, Bill Hurd of New Hampton, IA; two sons, Michael Hurd of Calmar, IA, Steve (Theresa) Hurd of Campbellsport, WI; three daughters, Lisa (Jeff) Merry of Plymouth, MN, Barb (Charlie) Watson of White Bluff, TN, Sara (Michael) Ealy of Holiday, FL; 14 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her parents; two sons, Christopher and David Hurd; brother, Dale Krall.
