Joan E. Locke

Joan E. Locke, 90, of La Salle, died in good spirits on the morning of October 27, 2018 at Heritage Health Care in Peru. 

Mass of Christian Burial will be 11:00 AM Saturday in St. Hyacinth’s Church in LaSalle with the Very Rev. Paul Carlson officiating. Burial will be in St. Vincent’s Cemetery in LaSalle. Visitation will be in the church Saturday from 10:00 AM until time of services with a rosary to be recited at 10:00 AM. The Hurst Funeral in LaSalle is assisting her family.

Joan Elizabeth Locke, the daughter of George and Blanche Locke, was born on August 11, 1928. She has a brother John (Marge) Locke who lives in Maryland and a brother-in-law, Henry (Evelyn) Sale who lives in Princeton. She has five nieces and five nephews, most of whom gathered together in August to celebrate her 90th birthday. Joan’s early years were in LaSalle. Her father died in 1938 and her mother married again to Fredrick Koehler. The family moved to the Koehler Farm north of Standard for most of her school years. Joan graduated from Hopkins High School in Granville and had a fond memory of her time there, going to many reunions. Her mother, known for many years as Blanche Koehler, died in 1969. She was also preceded in death by her sister Janet Sale in December of 1999.

After graduation she joined the Sisters at St. Margaret’s Hospital in Spring Valley and went to North Dakota to the Sister’s Mother House where she got a degree. Finally, she graduated from St. Bede Junior College as one of their first women graduates. Joan taught school, worked in hospitals, worked in child care, and spent a number of years assisting her mother who had Parkinson’s Disease.

Memorials may be directed to the Illinois Valley Center for Independent Living in LaSalle or Fighting Blindness Foundation.

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