Joan Dorothy Kentopp

Joan D. Kentopp, 84, of Mason City, passed away on Tuesday, July 11, 2023, at MercyOne North Iowa Medical Center. A funeral service will be held at 2:30 pm on Saturday, July 15, 2023, at Trinity Lutheran Church, 213 N Pennsylvania Ave with Pastor Dan Dahl officiating. Visitation will be held one hour prior to the service. Interment will be held in the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery of Lebanon on Sunday, July 16, 2023, at 12:30 p.m. in Watertown, WI. In lieu of flowers, please consider a memorial to the Trinity Lutheran Church Music Fund in Mason City, Iowa.  Donations may be directed to https://www.trinity-mc.org/memorials 

Joan was born on July 16, 1938, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, along with a sister and two brothers, to Frederick and Margaret (Ponath) Reinhardt.  She graduated salutatorian from South Division High School in Milwaukee at age 18 and then from the Milwaukee College of Nursing.

She met Arthur E. Kentopp at age 14 and knew he was the love of her life.  They were married in Milwaukee in 1959 and moved to St. Louis – the first of a dozen moves that she would make as the devoted wife of a Navy chaplain, Lutheran pastor, and aspiring educator.  The couple welcomed their first child in St. Louis, three more while serving at naval bases in the states of Washington and Virginia, and three more in western Massachusetts where they lived for the longest time period of their married life. During the time Art was pastor at Our Saviour Lutheran Church in South Hadley, Massachusetts, Joan returned to the workforce as a night shift nurse.  She made many life-long friends during church services, retreats and social events for members of Our Saviour, and held strong ties with her uncle Bob Ponath and his family.

Joan was the glue that held the family together with family holiday traditions, daily routines, and home cooked meals.  In 1978, the family moved to Kaukauna, Wisconsin, when Art took a job with Aid Association for Lutherans.  It was during this time that Margaret Reinhardt, Joan’s mother, moved in with the family after Joan’s father passed away.

In 1986, Joan and the family moved to western North Carolina, where Art was headmaster of a start-up Lutheran high school.  After a few years, the family moved back to Wisconsin when Art returned to the ministry as pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church of Lebanon.  After the death of Margaret and graduation from high school of their two youngest children, Art and Joan moved to serve in Gary, Indiana, and Lexington, Kentucky, while she continued to work as a hospice nurse.   

After Art died in 2003 at age 66, and after a total of 12 moves to 9 different states over the course of their 43-year marriage, Joan returned to Watertown, Wisconsin.  In Watertown, she became a source of help to her daughter Natalie, two granddaughters and numerous infants and toddlers at Natalie’s home daycare. In 2017, Joan moved for the last time to an independent living apartment at the Willows in Mason City, Iowa.  Here she enjoyed many family events and church services with daughter Carol Kentopp Dettmer. 

Joan was a proud mom and grandma.  She was the family historian, taking many photos and videos and saving every Christmas card from people all over the world. She relished trips to visit friends and family and worldwide trips with Art.  She enjoyed mailing newspaper and magazine clippings and cookies to her children, sending cards, and talking on the phone with family and friends in many states.  She loved music, participated in church and community choirs, and sang “Jesus Tender, Shepherd, Hear Me” with loved ones for night prayers.  She truly believed Jesus Loves Me.

She is survived by sister Janet Brufach and 7 children: Timothy (and Michelle) Kentopp, Christine (and Ed) Slattery, Theresa (and Steve) Nelson, Natalie Wanta, Nicholas (and Gina) Kentopp, Kathryn Carr and Carol (and Tim) Dettmer, 17 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren. She was a devoted sister-in-law and loving aunt to many nieces and nephews in Wisconsin, Illinois, Oklahoma and Texas.