Joyce Marilyn Thiesfeldt

Joyce Thiesfeldt, age 95, went to her eternal home in heaven on Friday, August 22, 2025. She passed peacefully in her sleep at Lumia Assisted Living in Mequon, Wisconsin, where she had been living the past couple of years. Joyce was born on October 30, 1929, to the late Otto and Mary (Hittner) Koch in Winona, Minnesota. Her baptism and confirmation in the Lutheran church formed the foundation for a faith that served her in this life and, by God’s grace, opened the doors of heaven to her in eternal glory.

Joyce was preceded in death by her husband Richard in 1993; his parents, Ervin (1990) and Norma (1998) Thiesfeldt; a son, Lance, in 1997; a sister-in-law, Kay (Gerald) Koch, in 2021; and a brother-in-law, Ronald Thiesfeldt, in 1984. She is survived by brother Gerald and sister Kathleen (Dale) Walz; four sons, Steven (Jeneane), Gregory (Lisa), Paul (Gina), and Jeremy (Cindy); six daughters, Laura (Craig) Kitzrow, Gail (Fred) Gauger, Karla (Randy) Matter, Heidi (Robert) Haertl, Rebecca Thiesfeldt, and Gretchen (Andrew) Asmus; and over 100 grand children and great grandchildren.

Upon receiving encouragement from her pastor, the Rev. A. L. Mennicke, Joyce left home at the age of 13 to attend Dr. Martin Luther High School, a boarding school in New Ulm, Minnesota, for a Christian secondary education. In the fall of 1947, she entered Dr. Martin Luther College on the same campus to prepare for service as a Lutheran elementary school teacher. After two years of college, she was called to teach at St. Paul Lutheran School in Green Bay, Wisconsin. While serving there for only one year, she met Richard Thiesfeldt, her future husband. Before marrying, she also taught for a year at St. Paul’s Lutheran School in Cudahy, Wisconsin. Joyce and Richard were married on June 30, 1951, at St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church in Winona, Minnesota. As they returned to make Green Bay their home and begin their life as husband and wife, Joyce’s formal service as a teacher came to an end. She was about to transfer her love for children from the classroom to her own home. Over the next twenty-two years, God blessed the marriage of Joyce and Richard with eleven children. Joyce cherished her role as a parent and considered seriously her God-given responsibility to “train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6). The oldest two of the eleven children were born in Green Bay. Soon afterward, the young family moved to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, where the next eight children were born. In 1972, a move took the family to Richfield, Wisconsin, and the couple’s eleventh child was born following the move to the home where Joyce lived until the final years of her life.

A funeral service will take place at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, August 30, 2025, at David’s Star Lutheran Church, 2740 David’s Star Dr, Jackson, WI 53037. Pastor Kurt Loescher will officiate. Committal will be in the David’s Star Cemetery adjacent to the church immediately following the service.

Visitation is from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the church on Friday, August 29, and from 10:00-10:45 a.m. on Saturday before the service.

Memorials may be directed to David’s Star Lutheran Church, Kettle Moraine Lutheran High School, Winnebago Lutheran Academy, or Martin Luther College. Please share your thoughts and memories with the family at the church or online at https://www.muellerfuneralhome.com/obituaries/joyce-thiesfeldt.