OBITUARY: Joanne Huegel

Joanne Helen Huegel

Joanne Helen Fink Huegel passed away January 30, 2017 at her son’s home in Las Vegas.

She was born in Bethlehem, PA on February 9, 1939 to Welcome and Elsie Saylor Fink.

She had a sister and a brother who died when they were young, before she was even born. Her parents had 5 more daughters, Dorothy, Effie, Joyce, Joanne and Georgine.

Joanne grew up in Pennsylvania, and as a teenager worked at Green’s Five and Ten. She married Earnest Huegel in January 1960, at the age of 20. He was in the U.S. Marine Corps and they moved around a lot in their early married years. They brought 5 children into the world, Richard, Lloyd, Larry, Laura and Sharon. They were later divorced.

Joanne and her family settled in to Las Vegas, NV in 1975 after their military life. For nearly 30 years, she worked two jobs to support her family. Her day job was at Las Vegas Dry Cleaner’s and her night job was at a day care center, Cinderella Care School. When the dry cleaner’s closed she went down to one job and finally retired at the age of 70.

Nothing ever slowed down Joanne. She was as active as they come. She enjoyed bowling and was on numerous bowling leagues throughout her life. She stopped bowling in 2010, only because she had knee replacement surgery. She loved singing and was a strong alto. She sang in the dedication choir at the Las Vegas LDS Temple in November 1989. That was a great honor, as only 2 people were selected from each Stake. She loved games and cards. She played Yahtzee almost every day with her daughter-in-law Megan. And when she went to Moapa Valley she played ‘hand and foot’, lots of times until the wee hours of the morning. She loved the Arts, and was a season ticket holder with the Moapa Valley Performing Arts Council. She loved being around events where there were lots of people and things to do, such as the Clark County Fair, The Bluegrass Festival, The Pomegranate Festival, just to name a few. She loved finding decorated pot holders and hand towels that she would mail to her friends and family all over the United States. She had so many “grandkids”, both biological and not, both adults and children, who called her Grandma Jo. But Joanne’s biggest passion was hand writing letters and cards. She had over 40 people that she would send cards to for every single holiday. She had friends all over the country that she kept in touch with, some for over 50 years. She had such beautiful penmanship. It was a joy to receive a card from her. She will be greatly missed by all who knew her.

Joanne is survived by her five children: Richard (Deb) Huegel of Lawton, OK; Lloyd (Judy) Huegel of Hustonville, KY; Larry (Megan) Huegel of Las Vegas, NV; Laura (David) Robison of Logandale, NV and Sharon Jones of Cedar Park, TX; brother-in-laws James Cooley of Macungie, PA and Charles Hittinger of Steel City, PA; numerous brothers and sisters-in-law from her ex-husbands family; and numerous grandchildren and great grandchildren. She is preceded in death by her parents and all of her siblings.

Memorial services will be held Thursday, February 9, 2017 at 11:00 a.m. in the Logandale LDS building, 3245 N. Moapa Valley Blvd., Logandale, NV. All are invited to attend.