Megan Emley Pinkham

Megan Emley Pinkham, 45, of Dubuque, Iowa, entered glory on Tuesday, July 1, 2025, after a wonder-woman battle with breast cancer.

Visitation will be from 2:00 pm until 5:00 pm on Sunday, July 6, 2025, at Hoffmann Schneider & Kitchen Funeral Home & Crematory.

The Celebration of Life service for Megan will be at 10:00 am on Monday, July 7, 2025, at Hope Church with Pastor Travis Roehm and Mr. Jim Gephart officiating. Burial will be at Linwood Cemetery, followed by a picnic lunch at Eagle Point Park Riverfront Pavilion. Megan requested that those attending wear one or more of the following of her favorite things: something blue, cute red shoes, a fancy hat (aka a fascinator).

Megan was born April 26, 1980, in Dallas, TX, the daughter of Gary W. and Jane E. (Whitver) Weston. Megan graduated from Brookfield East High School, Brookfield, WI, in 1998. She then furthered her education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she obtained both her Bachelor of Science in Engineering (2002) as well as her Executive MBA (2013). She was united in marriage to the love of her life Joel T. Pinkham on August 18, 2018, in Dubuque.

That's the 411 as we used to say in the '90s, but the full details of Megan's life reveal a woman as tough as she was tender, as intelligent as she was nurturing, as fearless as she was curious. A true "obstinate headstrong girl" (see A&E's Pride and Prejudice), Megan genuinely loved others well with her time, interest, and affection. She traveled the world for different reasons, with missions, with work, and for pleasure. Megan tackled physical and mental obstacles with grit and grace. She learned new hobbies and sports just to spend time with the people she loved, like training and riding in RAGBRAI with her brother and friends. She loved her friends' children as if they were her own, taught them skills like skiing and cooking and having fun, and proudly earned her Auntie title at numerous band concerts, birthday parties, and sporting events. She extended her affectionate care to her friends' parents as well. She loved to laugh and had an ear for a corny joke.

Megan was employed as an engineer at John Deere Dubuque Works for 17 years. While she flourished at Deere, she retired in order to pursue her long-awaited role of mother (spreadsheets helped then too). She adored her little boy, Titus, and cherished every moment she got to spend with him and Joel. They enjoyed traveling, hiking, exploring, family movie night, and laughing together.

All of the moments of Megan's life, both beautiful and difficult, revolved around her commitment to following Jesus Christ as the Lord of her life. She first accepted Jesus as her Savior in 1985 at the age of 5. She continued to grow in her knowledge and love of Him throughout her life, participating in church youth groups (high school) and InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (college). After moving to Dubuque in 2002, she was active in her local churches, first at Galena Bible Church and for the last 10 years at Bridge Christian Church. She served in various capacities from worship team to youth leader to deaconess. Wherever and however she participated, she endeavored to live in the love of Jesus authentically, asking real questions, studying Scripture for true answers, and leading others to a deeper relationship with the Good Shepherd. Above and beyond everything else, she desired to please God, and she increasingly looked forward to spending eternity in Heaven with Him.

Those left to cherish her memory include her husband, Joel and their son, Titus, of Dubuque; her mother, Jane Weston, of Dubuque; her brother and sister-in-law, Michael and Sarah Weston; nephew, Mason Weston; her paternal grandmother, PJ Weston and paternal aunt, Shirley Weston, all of Fort Myers, FL; her maternal uncles, Tim Whitver and Dan Whitver; her parents-in-law, Tim and Peggy Pinkham, of Washington, IN; and sister-in-law, Rebekah Pinkham, of Indianapolis, IN; her "first babies" Caleb, Audrey, Peter, and Jasmine Wagner, Galena, IL.

Megan was preceded in death by her father, Gary; her maternal grandparents and her paternal grandfather.

In lieu of flowers, memorials have been established for the family to purchase memorial benches, to InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, and to the Avery Foundation.

The family would like to extend a deeply heartfelt Thank You to Dr. Hermann, Oncology nurse, Bobye Manning, and the entire Grand River Medical Group Oncology Team. Through all the years of treatment, she was so grateful for the care she received both in Dubuque and in Rochester, MN.

Additional stories and memories for the family to treasure can be posted on the living memorial page https://murial.life/meganpinkham.