JoAnn R. Nelson

JoAnn R. Nelson was born Sept. 21, 1939, to Joseph and Martina Rond. Our dear mom, wife, grandmother and friend passed away on Oct. 16, 2025, at the age of 86. JoAnn married Gary Nelson on March 7, 1958. For 67 years they stood by each other's side inseparable from one another. Dad took care of mom through her last moments.

Surviving are her husband Gary, daughters Cindy (Kelly) Thomas, Kathy (Ed) Valdez, April (Kevin) Nelson and one son Joe Nelson. She had 10 grandchildren and many great grandchildren.

JoAnn worked for the family business and later retired from the IRS. In their earlier years mom and dad were avid square dancers. They taught us kids to work hard and play harder. Mom liked ATVing, snowmobiling, boating and they did all those things usually in their motorhome. JoAnn especially liked being out in the motorhome with her family and the huge group of traveling friends they had, and all the friends they met along the way of the adventure. Wherever that adventure may have taken them.

Mom loved to boat but not fish, dad and their dog Sassy loved to fish especially troll in the boat, so they made an agreement that dad could fish for a certain amount of time each day while mom drove the boat. Mom agreed to this only because she had a secret weapon to get her through the time of trolling, called “trolling juice!” Anybody that knew mom knew what this special elixir was.

The family would like to thank all the many caregivers over the years, at many different facilities that took care of mom. And a special thank you to Corey, her hospice nurse who helped mom through her final journey.

JoAnn asked that we not hold formal services for her and we are honoring her wishes. We are planning a Celebration of Life in her honor when the time is right.