Mrs. Joyce M. Harder

Joyce M. Harder, 88, of Boelus died Friday, August 14, 2009 at the Howard County Community Hospital in St. Paul.



Services will be held at 10:00 a.m., Thursday at Christ Lutheran Church in Cairo. The Reverend Glen Keylon will officiate. Interment will be in the Grand Island City Cemetery. Visitation will be held on Wednesday, from 4:00 - 8:00 p.m. at Jacobsen-Greenway Funeral Home in St. Paul.



Memorials are suggested to the Heartland Family Visitation Center or to Heartland CASA.



Mrs. Harder was born December 7, 1920 on the family farm in Howard County near Boelus to George and Frieda (Lemburg) Jess.



She attended country school near Boelus and the Boelus High School where she graduated in 1938.



Joyce was united in marriage to Ralph Harder on December 12, 1939 in Grand Island. The couple lived and farmed near Cairo until 1968. During this time, Joyce attended the Grand Island Business College and Kearney State College. Joyce and Ralph farmed near Boelus until Ralph's death in 1999. Joyce continued to live on the farm until May 27, 2009 when she moved to Matelyn Retirement Community in St. Paul.



Joyce's activities that she really enjoyed were sewing and going to help people. She had the motto that she was either "sewing or going". She made baby blankets for many children in the area. She was very good at baking and decorating cakes for her family and many other people. She painted many portraits from photographs, including one of her mother and uncle. Playing cards was an enjoyable activity for Joyce.



She was a member of Christ Lutheran Church of Cairo and the churches women's organization. She was also a member of the Boelus Friendship Club and the Boelus American Legion Auxiliary.



Survivors include five daughters and sons-in-law, Diann and Richard Muhlbach of Shelton, Renee and John VanWinkle of Farwell, LaJean and Ruel Magnuson of Eagle, NE, Lynnette and Don Losh of Lincoln, and Marilyn and Tom Wilson of Memphis, TN; 19 grandchildren; 28 great-grandchildren; one sister, Lois Margaret Frandsen of Dannebrog; and a daughter-in-law, Deloris Pittman and her husband, Darrin of Martell, NE and many children who called her grandma.



She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Ralph on March 28, 1999; two sons, Daryl and Randel Harder; and two brothers, Alvin and Arnold Jess.