Joan I. Aker

Joan (Cooper) Aker passed away June 30th, 2025 due complications of heart and kidney failure at Sanford Hospice House in North Fargo.

Joan Irma Cooper was born June 25, 1936 to Edwin and Bernice Cooper in a car on the way to the hospital in Crookston. She spent her childhood in Buxton, North Dakota, moving to Crookston after high school where she was a switchboard operator.

She met Lowell Arnold Aker on a blind date and they were married April 25, 1955.

She and Lowell moved to Missoula where she worked at the Mercantile for 10 years and in the offices at American Crystal Sugar Company, and where their daughters Susan and Julie were born in 1957.

In 1965 the family moved to Lakewood, Colorado where Lowell continued to work for American Crystal and Joan worked as a medical receptionist.

In 1973, the family followed American Crystal to the Red River Valley, and they settled in North Fargo for the next 50 years. Joan worked briefly for TNI and then worked in the offices of Drs. Mendoza and Das for 20 years, where she made lifelong friendships.

Joan and Lowell enjoyed lake life at their cabin at Pikes Bay on Cormorant Lake, and after retirement traded the lake life for warm winters in Sun City West, Arizona. Joan loved golfing; she once clocked a squirrel on the head on a long drive down the fairway, - she still felt badly about that years later. She enjoyed painting and the friendships that developed because of that hobby. She loved to sew, crochet, and quilt and enjoyed participating in a quilting group at Hope Lutheran in North Fargo until ill health prevented her from continuing. She loved gardening and cultivated her favorite plants indoors through the winter.

Lowell passed away in 2012, and Joan continued spending winters in Arizona until 2019; she moved to Touchmark in 2023. She loved her family and friends tremendously and enjoyed watching her digital picture frame as if it were television.

On June 26th, 2025 after multiple hospitalizations, Joan made the courageous decision to enter hospice care at Sanford Hospice House where she was cared for with compassion and grace.

Joan was preceded in death by her parents and her brothers Roger, Rodney, and Tim.

She is survived by her daughters Julie Richardson (Gordy), Susan Pederson (Jim), grandchildren Sean Calhoun (Sandra), Elizabeth Fleming (Robert) and Zachary Pederson (Amanda). She is also survived by six great grandchildren: Vaughn Calhoun; Everett Fleming, Wesley Fleming, and Astrid Fleming; and Archer Pederson and Brody Pederson.

In lieu of flowers, the family would like to request any remembrances in honor of Joan be directed to Sanford Hospice House in north Fargo.

A celebration of life is planned for a future date.