Joyce D. Hommes

Rock Rapids, Iowa                                Click Here to Watch Funeral Service

      Joyce D. Hommes age 92 of Rock Rapids, IA passed away on Sunday, February 5, 2023 at Ava’s House in Sioux Falls, SD, surrounded by her children.

      Visitation will be Wednesday, February 8th from 4:00 to 8:00 PM, with family present from 6:00 to 8:00 PM at Jurrens Funeral Home in Rock Rapids.

      Funeral services will be 10:30 AM, Thursday, February 9th at First Reformed Church of Rock Rapids, with Pastor Steve Van Wyhe officiating.

     Burial will follow at Riverview Cemetery at Rock Rapids.

     Joyce Darlene Hommes was born on November 9, 1930 to Dick and Tena (Joustra) Jansma. Growing up on a farm in Northwest Iowa, Joyce was her Dad's farmhand since he had no sons, milking cows, feeding chickens and tending the horses. She attended Allison #2 Country School through the 8th grade.

     Sometime in her late teen years Joyce's dad hired John H. Hommes as a farmhand. Inevitably a romance blossomed and they were married on June 16, 1950 in the Steen Reformed Church. On a rented farm north of Steen, MN they started their family and their life together. In 1957 the call for opportunity and greener pastures beckoned them and they moved to Artesia, California.  In 1963 they returned to Iowa having worked and saved enough to purchase a farm southwest of Rock Rapids, where they lived until 1973. They then moved to the farmstead northwest of Rock Rapids on land they had purchased to add to their growing operation. After their retirement in 1991, they continued to live in their farm home. John passed away on November 20, 2010. Following John's death Joyce purchased a home in Rock Rapids, IA where she lived until 2021 when she moved to Bethany Meadows in Brandon, South Dakota.

     Joyce loved to garden, as was evidenced by the overflowing flower beds on the farm. Many of those plants were provided by her daughter Carol's home greenhouse where Carol would start the seedlings for Mom, making the flowers even more enjoyable, as they were a gift of love. Nothing was more fun or gratifying for Joyce than to have a crowd for Sunday dinner.  Even as she aged, and it became harder for her, she longed for those Sunday gatherings.  Going south for the winter became a reality for John and Joyce in 1991 and they did so for 14 years, enjoying the southern sun while the rest of us shivered in the snow and ice. For 22 years they faithfully visited their handicapped grandson, Devin, who resided at Children’s Care in Sioux Falls and later at Village Northwest in Sheldon. Joyce loved to spend as much time as possible with her grandchildren and great grandchildren, and they loved the time she gave them.

     Joyce has been a member of the First Reformed Church in Rock Rapids since 1963. Circle and Guild were very important to her, she was very active as a leader, particularly when an event called for kitchen activities. At home and at church, the kitchen was where she loved to be.

     Joyce is survived by her four children. Daughters Charlotte Bain (Mark Gerhardt) and Carol (Jack) Nelson, sons John “JD” (Lesa) and Jim (Mary Beth); 10 grandchildren and 18 great grandchildren.; her sister, Mary Niessink and sister-in-law Joann Douglas.

     She was preceded in death by her husband, John H, her parents, three infant children, grandson Devin Hommes and her sister Jane Baker Bosch.

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