Joyce L. Hanes

Joyce Hanes, 92, of Mason City, passed away peacefully Saturday, June 14, 2025, at the Good Shepherd Health Center in Mason City. A memorial service will be held Saturday, June 28, 2025, at 11 a.m. at First Presbyterian Church, 100 S Pierce Ave., with Rev. Dr. Kip Murphy and Rev. Paul Collier officiating. A visitation will be held an hour prior at the church. A private family inurnment will be held in Elmwood-St. Joseph Cemetery prior to the service. Memorials may be directed towards First Presbyterian Church, Girl Scout Camp Tanglefoot, or NIACC.

To watch Joyce's service click here: Joyce's Service

Joyce was born July 25th, 1932 to Otto John Frederick and Lizzie (Aders) Reinke, on a farm near Garrison, Iowa. She spent her youth first in Garrison, and then in Dysart.

When Joyce was 12, the family moved to Cedar Rapids. Joyce began taking piano lessons, and playing drums in the high school band and orchestra. Soon she joined the Cedar Rapids Moose Girls drum and bugle corps. In 1947, she led that corps as drum major when they won a national competition held in San Francisco, and when they marched in the Mason City Band Festival.

Joyce graduated from Franklin HS in 1948, and enrolled at Iowa State College, majoring in mathematics. There she played percussion in the college band. There she was courted by Joel Charles Hanes, a bass clarinetist from Mason City. There she fell in love, and they married in Cedar Rapids on Sept 8, 1951.

They took up residence in Mason City, where their family eventually grew to embrace five children: Joel, Susan, Ann, Kay, and Linda. With a string of small children to raise, Joyce set her other aspirations aside for a while, and applied her energies to family and household. These were happy, busy years, filled with singing and laughter, during which Joe and Joyce cemented the friendships and community ties that would last their entire lives.

As the children grew older, Joyce became active in organizations: PEO, the United Way, PTA, and as a deacon and elder in the First Presbyterian Church. These years were the beginning of her long commitment to Girl Scouting: first as a troop leader, then as neighborhood chairman, then a member of the North Iowa Girl Scout Council, then as Council president, then chair of the Finance Committee, and finally as a Camp Tanglefoot board member and fundraiser.

After Joe and his brother Ed founded Midwest Wholesale Inc. in 1970, Joyce served as director and treasurer and did a stint as Chairman of that board.

In 1975, Joe and Joyce moved lakeside on Clear Lake. This was the beginning of a nautical chapter in their shared life, with sailboat trips to the Great Lakes, to Florida, and to the Virgin Islands.

Joyce joined the North Iowa Area Community College board of directors in 1975, was President of that board from 1986 to 1993, then served on the NIACC Foundation board until 2006.

In 1982, Joyce was invited to join the board of Interstate Power Company, When Interstate Power merged with Alliant Energy, Joyce continued as Audit Committee chair of the Alliant board until 2003.

Joyce returned to Iowa State University in 1981, and graduated with a BSL in 1983.

In 1993, Joe and Joyce moved to 310th Street north of Mason City, and spent years working to preserve Iowa's native environment. Joe died in 2005.

Joyce played in the NIACC band until 2020, and in the New Horizons band until her death.

She is survived by her son, Joel Hanes, Santa Clara CA, and daughters Susan (Steven) Helle, Champaign IL, Ann (Carol Kelly) Hanes, Mason City, and Linda Hanes, Mason City; by a sister-inlaw Barb Roberts, Clear Lake, by grandchildren Kimberly Pape, Santa Clara CA, Samuel Hanes, Reno NV, Samantha (Skylar) Sebens, Champaign Il, Stephanie Helle, Bansko Bulgaria, Aimee (Steve) Vincent, Aurora CO, Lynn (partner Mitch Williams) Ehlers, Thornton, CO, and John Ehlers, Aurora CO; by five great-grandchildren, and three great-great grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her husband Joel Hanes in 2005, by her sister Ruby Reed, by her daughter Kay Ehlers, by son-in-law Steve Ehlers, and by special friend Marly Holtz.