JoAn VanBalen

1932 - 2020

Des Moines - JoAn van Balen (September 3, 1932 - December 1, 2020) - Artist, environmentalist, visionary and mother lived life to its fullest. She passed away at the age of 88 due to complications from an ongoing heart condition and a recent fall. JoAn was one of four children born to Joost van Balen and Nellie Daugherty. She grew up among the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe on the Stephan Catholic Indian Mission in South Dakota where her father, a Dutch immigrant, managed its dairy farm. JoAn left home at the age of 14 to attend Black Hills Teachers College, then earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Drake University in 1955. JoAn taught art while raising her seven children with husband Charles Spain on their farm near Norwalk, Iowa. In 1981, she moved to Lexington, Nebraska, with her second husband Michael Churchman. JoAn traveled to Samos, Greece, to study painting and earned a Bachelor of Fine Art from the University of Nebraska, Kearney, in 1988. Shortly after moving to Albuquerque in 1991, she found herself battling cancer—and eventually winning. Taking the good news and running, JoAn headed for the high desert forest of Northern New Mexico. There, building a straw bale house off of the electrical grid gave her productivity and solace. She returned to Des Moines in 2001 to be closer to her children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. An artist through and through, JoAn created her life with intention, courage and beauty. Ever connected to the spiritual world, she kept the bar high in her expectations of what it meant to live on this planet, and with one another. JoAn will be forever loved and missed by her surviving family, including sisters Janet Venjohn (Jerome), Betty Jean Ankrum (Merle) and their families; children Sarah Spain, Sean Spain (Diane), Patrick Spain (Carrie), Seamus Spain, Molly Spain, Peter Spain and Siobhan Spain (Jonathan deLima); grandchildren Andrea Ferrigno (Nate Friberg), Danny Hoffenberg, Keith Kimsey (Courtney), Nicolas Spain (Cameron), Joshua Spain (Margeaux), Dylan Kimsey (Esther), Mitchell Spain (Reanna), Matt Hoffenberg, Jacob Spain, Ryan Hoffenberg, Truus deLima; great grandchildren Lily Criswell, Levi Kimsey, Parker Spain, Silas Kimsey, Madden Spain and Jasmine Kimsey; and a lifetime of friends. She is preceded in death by brother Ross van Balen, grandchild Jordan Spain and great grandchild Fox Spain. Memorial donations can be made in JoAn's name to Des Moines Zen Center, Hope Ministries or Mainframe Studios. Des Moines Zen Center will hold a special virtual service in remembrance of JoAn on 12/20/20 at 8:40 a.m. All are welcome to join at: dmzencenter.org/virtual-practice/. For family and the adventurous, an outdoor solstice sendoff will happen on Sunday, 12/20/20, 3:30-6pm on The Spain Family Farm (masks and social distancing required). More details are available at caringbridge.org/visit/joanvanbalen.