Joan Litchfield

Joan M. Litchfield age 86 of Charles City, formerly of Nashua, IA, died Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021, at Bartels Lutheran Retirement Community in Waverly, IA.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 8. 2021, at St. Michaels Catholic Church in Nashua with Rev. Tom Heathershaw celebrating the Mass.

Interment will be held at Calvary Cemetery, Charles City with Chase Litchfield, Logan Litchfield, Joe Bacheldor, Carl Bacheldor, Chelsie Litchfield, Jessica Anderson, and Kevin Anderson serving as pallbearers. Honorary pallbearers are Hayden Litchfield and Caroline Litchfield.

Friends may greet the family from 4-7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 7, 2021, at Hugeback Johnson Funeral Home & Crematory – Olson Chapel in Nashua where there will be a 7 p.m. Scripture Service. Visitation continues an hour prior to the Mass at the Funeral Home in Nashua.

Joan Litchfield was born July 2, 1935, in Little Fork, Minnesota to Carl and Mary (Pyzick) Jensen. She was proud to be born in Northern Minnesota and enjoyed telling folks how close she was to Canada.

Joan grew up on a farm south of Charles City with her parents, Carl and Mary, one sister, Delores, and three brothers Phillip, Clarence, and David.

Country living suited her to a tee. She worked and raised seven children on the family farm north of Nashua. She often said she didn’t have to worry about things getting done, what one kid didn’t want to do the other one did. Her love of flowers given to her by her mom took up a lot of her free time.

Someone once told her that she couldn’t have flowers and kids. Guess she proved them wrong because she had a lot of both. Seemed every year she would say “I’m not buying as many flowers this year.” She would always end up with more than the last.

When the children moved on to lead their own lives working at the Floyd County Memorial Hospital took the place of track meets, football games, band concerts, and other school events.

Retirement brought time to travel. She packed her suitcase and off she went to Canada, Mexico, South Carolina, Idaho, Montana, and Colorado just to name a few.

From the mountains to the oceans she thought you should go to new places instead of the same old ones.

She had the most wonderful sense of humor. You never knew what she was going to say or when she was going to say it. She could dish it out and take it with the best of them. She was never at a loss for words.

“Always make sure you have a few really good friends”, she would say. Not only did Joan have some really good friends, but she also had more friends that thought the world of her.

If you were to have asked her about her life she would tell you that she had a Good Life and did a lot of things most people haven’t.

She is survived by her sister; Delores (Danny) Hammel of Abbotsford, WI; Peggy Litchfield (sister in law) of Ames, IA; six children; Cindy (Jeff) Green of Nampa, ID; Lonnie (Peg) Litchfield of Washington, IA; Kevin (Ruth) Litchfield of Boone, IA; Deanna (Doug) Bacheldor of Greene, IA; Mark Litchfield of Des Moines, IA; Mike (Kathy) Litchfield of Hilton Head, SC. Eight grandchildren, Jessica (Kevin) Anderson, Logan, Chelsie, Chase, Joe, Carl, Hayden, and Caroline. Several nieces and nephews call her their favorite Aunt.

She was preceded in death by her daughter Lori; her parents Carl and Mary Jensen; three brothers Phillip, Clarence, and David; two sisters-in-law, Evelyn Jensen, and Mary Ann Jensen.