Joyce Jeannette Althage

Joyce Jeannette Gunderson was born near Good Thunder, Blue Earth County, Minnesota January 12, 1920.  She also spent some of her childhood in Texas and Idaho. In 1940 she attended Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska.  During the summer she sold religious and health books to pay her tuition for the 1941 school year.  She completed two years of teacher training before leaving college to teach grades 1 to 4 in Wellston, a suburb of St. Louis.  She later taught all grades in south St. Louis. During the summer of 1943, she met Irvin Althage, and by December they were married.  He served in the Army, and she followed him to Liberal, Kansas and later to Bryan, Texas.  After Irvin completed his Masters of Fine Arts degree at Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1951, they moved to Berrien Springs, Michigan where he accepted the position of art teacher at Emanuel Missionary College (EMC).  Joyce worked as a nurse’s aide at the Berrien County Hospital and would often relate stories about working with the patients.  At night she helped Irvin build student desks and easels for the art lab below the men’s dormitory in old North Hall. She also attended classes at EMC and completed her BA degree in Elementary Education in 1956.  That same year she began her career as a second grade school teacher at the East Side Elementary School in Niles, Michigan.  Later she taught at the Oak Manor Elementary School also in Niles. Joyce always loved the event when years later, former students would greet her and remember being in her second grade classroom.   At her retirement in 1985, she received a plaque that stated she had “completed 27 ½ years of dedicated service” to the Niles school system. During her retirement, Joyce loved gardening, picking and canning fruits, sewing, going to garage sales, quilting, making Christmas decorations with beads, cutting out recipes and pasting them onto 4 x 6 cards.  She raised two children, Craig Lyndon Althage and Celia Jill Althage.  In addition to her children, she is survived by her sister, Marion Simoneaux and her son-in-law, Larry Lefferts. She will be missed by those who knew Joyce as a very generous, loving woman who never wanted to run out of things to do.  When anyone asked for her help, she happily picked up the challenge.  She loved attending her Pioneer Memorial Church and shared her love of the music and spiritual messages.  Joyce always kept her faith that someday she will reunite with family and friends in heaven.   She valued the friends she has made in this community and was always happy to call Berrien Springs, Michigan her home. A Celebration of Life Service will be held 2:00 P.M. Sunday, September 14 at Pioneer Memorial Church in the Youth Chapel, 8655 University Blvd, Berrien Springs with Pastor José R. Bourget officiating. Memorial contributions may be made to the Pioneer Memorial Church, or American Macular Degeneration Foundation, or the Humane Society of Southwest Michigan. Those wishing to sign Joyce’s guestbook may do so online at www.heritage-chapel.com.