Joy M. Boren

Joy M. Boren, 87, passed away at her home Saturday, June 23, 2012.

She was born on the 19th of March 1925 at her Uncle Karl and Aunt Martha’s home, a little north of her parent’s farm. Her parents were John Henry and Freda Skersies Muller. At the time of her birth her father was 44 and her mother was 34 years old. Her paternal Muller grandparents immigrated to the Victor, Iowa area from Fischerhude, Hannover. Her maternal Skersies grandparents immigrated to the Dallas, Oregon area from Tsargillen, Lithuania Minor.

Joy and her younger sister Shirley grew up on their family farm southeast of Victor. Besides neighboring children there were always plenty of Muller, Blome and Bohstedt cousins in the area for companionship. Also they each had pet lambs provided for them by their loving father.

Life on the farm in the 1920’s and 1930’s included a lot of hard work. There was a pump for water, no indoor plumbing and fires had to be made in the cook stove and heating stove. Animals had to be fed and cared for. Sometimes they could not make it the three miles to town because the dirt roads were too muddy or snowed under.

For her elementary education Joy attended a one-room school house named Hartford #3, a 1/3 mile walk from their house. A simple building, it had no electricity or plumbing. Students had to pass a written exam after the eighth grade to enter high school. Joy passed at the 90% level and graduated from Victor High School in 1943.

Also very important in Joy’s life was her spirituality. Right across the road from the Hartford #3 schoolhouse was the old Victor Baptist country church. The church was situated on the northeast corner of her Muller grandparent’s farm. Her family faithfully attended services and Joy came to trust that Jesus was the Messiah promised by the Lord to Israel.

The U.S. was at war in 1943 and Joy’s first job was at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. After that she worked for Bell Telephone in Des Moines where she met her future husband, Bob. Joy rented a room on Mattern Ave. and Bob rented a room next door on E. 12th St. They had their first date in 1948 and were married in 1950.

Their family grew in 1952 with the birth of their first son, Brent. That same year they moved to her parent’s farm to live with her widowed mother. In 1955 Bert was born, followed by John in 1956. By the 1950’s the 120 acre farm could no longer support a family so they relocated to the Des Moines area. In the early 1960’s besides being a wife and mother, Joy won several awards at the Iowa State Fair for her dressmaking and cake decorating skills.

Joy returned to the workforce in the mid 1960’s, being employed at several businesses. In 1969 she began working at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Des Moines from which she retired in 1987.

In her retirement years she enjoyed traveling with Bob, collecting, working at the Iowa State Fair, jigsaw puzzles, and her growing family.

Joy is survived by her husband of 62 years, Robert; sons, Brent, Bert (Heidi), and John (Diane) all of the Des Moines area; five grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; four great-great-grandchildren; her beloved sister, Shirley Frazer of Bellingham, WA; several cousins; and many friends including her life-long friend, Evelyn Bolger.

Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday, June 28, 2012 at Grace Community Church, 877 NE 64th St. in Pleasant Hill followed by burial at the Pleasant Hill Cemetery. Visitation will be held one hour prior to the service Thursday at the church.

Memorial contributions may be made to Grace Community Church.

Online condolences may be expressed at www.HamiltonsFuneralHome.com.

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