Joanne G. Emmons

1934 - 2022

Joanne G. Emmons
Big Rapids, MI
February 8, 1934 - March 31, 2022
Big Rapids – The Honorable Joanne G. Emmons, 88, of Big Rapids, passed away Thursday, March 31, 2022, at her home surrounded by her loving family.
Born the eighth of February 1934, to Ray and Emma (Von Glahn) Gregory, and raised on the family farm in Rodney, Michigan, Joanne graduated valedictorian from Mecosta High School in 1952, and took her baccalaureate degree from Michigan State University in 1956. That summer, she married John Francis Emmons, and by fall was teaching home economics at her high school alma mater, a post she filled for the next two years. What would become a remarkable life of unstinting public service was well underway.
For ten years, she served as the elected treasurer of Big Rapids Township. For five years, she chaired the Mecosta County Republican Party. From 1981 to 1986, she was a member of the Michigan Townships Association Board of Directors, and was for two years on the board of the Michigan Municipal Treasurer's Association. Starting in 1987, Joanne served two terms in the Michigan House of Representatives, and three terms in the Senate, serving as majority floor leader – the first female to do so in Michigan history – during the 91st Legislature.
Among her proudest associations was her work with Michigan Right to Life, protecting and advocating for the rights of the state's unborn children and their parents. She also recently served as chairman of the board of directors of the Russel Kirk Center, focusing on the development and promulgation of conservative thought. Joanne loved experiencing the arts in her community, and sought to share them with any and all through active participation and generous support at every level and abroad to bring joy into her life and into the lives of others.
Springing from deep family roots in the local farming culture, Joanne's active gifts of loving care reached ever outward as family merged into local community, and on to township, district, state and country. She was constantly traveling among her people near and far, sharing her experience, knowledge, and interest with all, wherever she went. Her adventurous and generous spirit meant that loved ones often joined in her travels and were rewarded with myriad precious memories. Despite having been everywhere, she seemed always at home, as a loving wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. The farmhouse was ever warmed by her generosity, illumined by her hospitality. In the summers throughout her life, she could be found out in her garden teasing delights from the mid-Michigan soil. Fruits, vegetables, jams were carefully preserved for her family and friends through her formidable mobile canning operations – she once canned fish in Alaska to bring back to Big Rapids.
Joanne was a lifelong member of St. Peter's Lutheran Church, and was a ready witness that the good things that characterized and flowed from her life and work came first from her Lord and God, Jesus Christ. She was preceded in death by her husband, and by her two brothers, Jerome and Marvin. She is survived by her two daughters, Sarah (David) Nutter of Eugene, OR, and Dorothy (Glenn) Bancroft of Spokane, WA; 6 grandchildren, Neill (Jaclyn), John (Réka), and Ian Nutter, Hannah, Heidi, and Henry Bancroft; 5 great-grandchildren, Ashlyn, Anthony, Alyson, Ayden, and Tas; and 1 great-great-grandson, Weston; sisters-in-law Joyce Emmons of Big Rapids and Adeline Emmons of Traverse City, MI; and many nieces and nephews.
Funeral services will be 11:00 a.m., Friday, April 8, 2022, at St. Peter's Lutheran Church with Pastor John Bookshaw officiating. Burial will be in Highland View Cemetery. Joanne's family will greet friends from 3 – 6 p.m., Thursday, April 7, 2022, at the Mohnke Funeral Home in Big Rapids, and after 10 a.m. on Friday at the church. Memorial contributions in her name may be made to St. Peter's Lutheran Church. Share a memory or express condolences at mohnkefuneralhome.com.