Juanita Palmerhall

Juanita Palmerhall

Ames

Juanita Janice Palmerhall died on December 20, 2012 after a courageous battle with Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Visitation will be held on January 5, 2013 at St. John's by the Campus Episcopal Church in Ames, IA from 12:30 to 1:30 with informal sharing of memories 1:30 to 2:30 and funeral mass following at 3.

The Camp Fire Law was Juanita's credo: Worship God, Seek Beauty, Give Service, Pursue Knowledge, Be Trustworthy, Hold on to Health, Glorify Work, Be Happy.

Juanita was born at home in Hedrick, IA on October 9, 1930 to Paul George and Lois Wealthy (Palmer) Hall. Moving often with her family as they managed several local telephone companies, she lived in Greene, Slater, Rockford and Vinton, IA and in Avon, SD throughout elementary and middle school.

After graduating from Avon High School in 1948, she studied nursing at Dakota Wesleyan in Mitchell, SD during the polio epidemic. A nursing career was more her father's goal than her own, so she left college to marry her high school sweetheart, Don Pudwill, on April 2, 1950 in the Avon Presbyterian Church. Moving to San Diego, CA, Juanita and Don worked at Rohrs as airplane riveters until Don enlisted in the Navy during the Korean Conflict. Juanita greatly enjoyed living near her G'ma, Bertha Hall, and other relatives in southern California. She also enjoyed the cultural diversity of her neighbors in government housing. A daughter, Mary, was born in California in June 1951. They returned to Yankton, SD and then on to Slater, IA. Daughter, Lois, was born in May 1953 and daughter, Susan, was born in January 1956 in Des Moines, IA. As a 1950s homemaker, Juanita was very happily active in church and community activities, Eastern Star and Camp Fire Girls in Slater, West Des Moines, Johnston, Solon and Boone.

The turmoil of the 1960s entered her life in very personal ways, resulting in much sadness and eventually a divorce. At age 36, she returned to college to pursue her own dream of being a teacher. Graduating in 1971 from Iowa State University (ISU) with a BA in Speech Communications, she taught Speech and was the Drama Director at Tama High School for seven years. Passionate that every child deserves a loving home, she cared for six foster children while teaching in Tama, becoming one of the earliest single mothers in Iowa to serve as a foster parent.

In 1978, she earned her MA degree from ISU in Theater, Indian Education and Communications. Juanita then moved to Minneapolis to be head teacher of the North Wind Warriors program for Gifted and Talented Native American students in the MPLS Public Schools for three years. She returned to Iowa as Assistant Director of Student Minority Affairs at ISU for three years.

Juanita met Sam Cooper at an Indian Education Conference in 1980 and they were married in 1981. Moving to Sam's home on the Mescalero Apache Reservation, her teaching and directing career continued at New Mexico State University-Alamogordo for 17 years and simultaneously at Holloman Air Force Base for ten years. Enjoying wonderful friends and colleagues, she had many fond memories of her NM years that included teaching, directing children's theater, serving as Chair of the New Mexico Endowment for the Humanities, worshiping at the Mescalero Dutch Reform Church, and theater trips with her students to NYC and London's West End. Her marriage to Sam ended, but they remained supportive friends until his death.

Upon retirement in 1996, she moved to Minneapolis to enroll at United Theological Seminary and became an Episcopalian Priest in 2000. The All Are Welcome at the Table and Called to Action philosophies, as practiced at St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral, were especially dear to her heart. Juanita's personal ministry focused on the care and protection of vulnerable children and the homeless, work with Native American communities and integration of indigenous faith practices with Christian traditions.

Respect, friendship and love for a large and diverse group of people remained the gold standard of her life. Always an independent thinker, when other retirees were moving south, she moved further north to live and serve five years as director of En-Ma-Ga-Bowh House, a retreat center on White Earth Lake. More wonderful friends and memories were made as she served the Episcopalian Churches of the White Earth Ojibwa Reservation. Juanita then lived 5 years at Mille Lacs Lake and three years in New Hope, MN before returning to Ames, IA in 2011.

Juanita joyously filled her days with family and friends, planning social events, swimming, canoeing, ice skating, camping, singing, theater, traveling, porcelain doll making, scrapbooking, reading, gardening, cooking, new adventures and new knowledge.

Oh what a sweet blessing and glorious challenge to have such a passionate, loving, brilliant, feisty woman as a mother, grandmother, sister, friend, teacher and priest.

Juanita is remembered by brother, Jerry Hall; daughter, Mary (Stephen) Kautzky and grandchildren, Josh and Keegan Kautzky; daughter, Lois (James) Munsterteiger and grandchildren, April Bassett Jackson, Ben and Tytus Bassett; daughter, Susan (David) Jensen and grandchildren, Courtney Hein Stephens and Natalie Hein Larson; 13 plus great-grandchildren; foster daughter, Janet Kuykendall; and many wonderful friends.

Welcoming her home are family and friends, including grandsons, Brahm Kautzky and Nate Bassett.

Memorials may be made to the charity of your choice. Condolences may be left at www.adamsoderstrum.com.