Joanne Edelmaier

Joanne’s Celebration of Life services will be held Sat. Aug. 29th, 2026, 11am at Daneri Mortuary in Jackson CA and Oct. 9th 2026 11am at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Hooper NE. Interment will be at Hooper NE Cemetery next to her husband of 70 years. Joanne passed away peacefully of heart failure on July 25th 2026 at Foothill Village Senior Living in Angels Camp, CA where she lived for the last three years. In lieu of flowers memorials will be donated to The American Heart Association.

Joanne was born to Herbert Leroy and Leona Elizabeth (Niebaum) Meier on December 31, 1933, in Fremont, NE. Joanne is survived by her brother Ken Meier, daughter Denise, her husband Bill, sons David and Randy, and their wives Melanie and Jenny. Joanne is survived by 5 grandchildren: Claire, Caroline, Sarah, Benjamin, and Nathan. She also had 2 step grandchildren: Michele Cornejo who has three children, Mikayla, Gabriel, and Isaiah and step grandchild Sarah deAquinos. Joanne was preceded in death by her husband Alvin and her brother Duane.

Joanne was a beautiful intelligent accomplished woman always an active leader in her communities and in the Lutheran church. Even as a young girl growing up on farms in rural Nebraska, she was active in Girl Scouts and Luther League. She had a natural gift and talent for music and played piano and flute. Joanne graduated from Hooper NE High School in 1951 where she was a Cheerleader, member of the Band, Chorus, Glee Club and President of her HS National Honor Society. She was chosen to attend Girls State in Lincoln, NE, chosen “Queen for a Day” out of 4000 entries at Skip Day in Storm Lake, IA and she was Salutatorian of her class. She earned a music scholarship to Midland College in Fremont NE where she attended for one year.

On February 22, 1953, she married Alvin Edelmaier at Grace Lutheran Church, Hooper, NE. And from then on, she was devoted to her husband’s career and raising three children who were her pride and joy. Alvin and Joanne lived in Omaha NE until 1991 when they retired and built a home in Boston Yale Ranch, Mokelumne Hill, CA where they lived together for 32 years. Joanne joined many organizations including Questors, Wanna be Quilters, Newcomers, Merigold Garden Club and Amador Radio Club. For many years she was a volunteer for Mark Twain Hospital where she created quilts for donation. They were active members of Faith Lutheran Church in Pioneer where she often played the organ and later members of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Jackson. Joanne was also a member of the Friendship Chapter Eastern Star for 65 years. She had many friends.

Joanne was always happy and busy with her hobbies of music, genealogy, reading about history, scrapbooking, gardening, antiques, quilting, knitting, needlepointing, etc. She believed idle hands were evil hands. Joanne at 92 would tell you she had lived a fulfilling life. Her Lutheran faith was her foundation, and her motto was “TRUST IN THE LORD”.