Joan Kuemmerle

Joan Lynn Nelson Kuemmerle, 51, passed away Sept. 22, 2014, at the Colorado University Memorial Hospital Hospice Wing in Colorado Springs. She died of cirrhoses of the liver and now is free from struggle resting in the arms of Jesus.

Joan was born May 9, 1963, at Deaconess Hospital in Billings. Her parents are Jerry Nelson and Mary Crowe Bond.

The family moved to Columbia Falls in 1964, where her father taught junior high school. Joan attended school in Columbia Falls and graduated from Columbia Falls High School in 1981, where she was very active in music, a member of National Honor Society and a Girls State representative.

She then attended Cottey College, a two-year girls school in Nevada, Mo. Joan was a member of PEO, a Philanthropic Educational Organization that owns Cottey College. She later attended Eastern New Mexico in Portales and graduated summa cum laude in 1986.

Joan married Bill Kuemmerle in1986 in Roswell, N.M. She taught elementary music and junior high and high school band and choir at Hagerman, N.M. before starting their family. Their daughters are Kayla, Brittnay, Cynthia and Samantha. Joan was a director and accompanist for the Colorado Springs Children’s Chorale, and her girls are still active members. The Kuemmerle sisters sing like angels.

Joan was preceded in death by her father, Jerry Nelson, and grandparents Rev. Fred and Janet Crowe, of Kalispell.

Survivors are husband Bill Kuemmerle, of Colorado Springs; mother Mary Bond and husband Ron; brother John Nelson, wife Heidi and family from Pasco, Wash.; and sister Jackie Ashcraft, husband Kelly and family from Clovis, N.M.

“Joan Lynn Nelson Kuemmerle — beautiful outside and in, God’s child, daughter, sister, wife, mother, friend and teacher.”

A celebration of life service will be held at the United Methodist Church, 117 Second Street West, in Columbia Falls, on Saturday, Oct. 11, at 11 a.m.

A luncheon will follow the service.

There will also be a service the same day in Colorado Springs at 1 p.m.

Memorial donation may be made to Colorado Springs Children’s Choir Chorale, P.O. Box 7841, Colorado Springs CO 80933; Pike’s Peak Hospice, 2550 Tenderfoot Hill Street, Colorado Springs CO 80906; or the United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 27, Columbia Falls MT 59912.