Joanne F. Jones

Joanne (Jo) Jones, 82, the daughter of Lloyd and Geneva Fisher Hulse, was born at her parent’s home in Dallas County near Van Meter, Iowa on March 31, 1928, and passed away peacefully with family March 26, 2011, at Mercy Hospice of Johnston. She grew up in the country and lived most of her life near her birthplace of Van Meter. Jo attended the University of Iowa and started her career traveling the state selling office supplies. A job brought her back to Des Moines at Preferred Risk where she ran the mail room. She started her softball career with Greenwood Electric. Jo traveled with teams like Walker-Shay Reality and The Queen Bees; playing the Nationals in Toronto Canada, Vancouver, Washington and Kansas City, Missouri. She was inducted into the Iowa and Des Moines Softball Hall of Fame in 1988. One of her favorite pastimes was umpiring Winterset little league games through the 1970’s Joanne married Keith Jones of Jewell, IA on September 4, 1955. After their marriage they settled on a farm near Stuart and moved to the Winterset area in 1963 and had three sons. Joanne was a lifelong member of the Van Meter and Winterset United Methodist Churches. Joanne and Keith enjoyed Texas in the winter with both old and new friends. Jo’s family and friends were so important to her. She and Keith were so proud of their grandchildren and loved following their activities from ball games to county fairs. Joanne’s career took off in the 1980’s when she began clerking at the Madison County Auction. After 25 years at the auction she began work with the Madison County Memorial Hospital as the Activities Coordinator. She volunteered for the Senior Health Insurance Information Provider Program (SHIIP) and Middle River Hospice. She will be greatly missed by her sons, Jeff (Ginger) Jones of Norwalk, John Jones (Tamie Fisher) of Norwalk and Jay Jones of San Antonio, Texas; four grandchildren, Amanda, Kyle, Kari and Weston Jones. She is also survived by a sister-in-law, Bonnie Hulse of Waukee and many family and friends. She is preceded in death by her husband Keith and brother, Richard (Dick) Hulse. Visitation will be Tuesday, March 29, 2011, at Ochiltree Funeral Service & Aftercare in Winterset where family will be present from 2-8 p.m. Funeral services will be 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, March 30th, at the United Methodist Church in Winterset with burial at the Van Meter Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to the United Methodist Church of Winterset and Middle River Hospice. In lieu of flowers memorials may be directed to the United Methodist Church of Winterset and Madison County Hospice.