Joanne Fuller

JoAnne (Thielen) Fuller passed away on Friday, June 6th at the age of 96 and was reunited with her husband, Lyle R Fuller MD, and three children, Michel, Susan and Mark who preceded her in death.

A private family memorial mass will be held at St. Boniface Catholic Cemetery in Garner with Fr. Andrew Marr officiating. Inurnment will be in the church cemetery. Cataldo Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. 

In lieu of flowers, please donate to one of the following in her name: The American Cancer Society, U of Iowa Holden Cancer Center, Nature Conservancy, Iowa Heritage Foundation or the Audubon Society.

She was born JoAnne Thielen in Waterloo, Iowa, to parents Dr. Edward Thielen and his wife, Muriel (Krebs) Thielen on April 17, 1929. Before the age of 2, her mother died unexpectedly and she spent much of the next 2 years in Grundy Center with her Grandfather, Michel Thielen M.D., his wife Anna, and a beloved aunt and godmother, Josephine, whom she christened “Dodo”, a nickname which stuck for the rest of her life. Her father married Mary Lamkin in 1932, and JoAnne was joined by the first of seven siblings in 1934. She attended West High in Waterloo where she played violin in the orchestra and was co-editor of the school’s literary magazine, foreshadowing a short career as an English teacher and a lifelong habit of trying to correct her children’s grammar. She attended the University of Iowa and majored in English, graduating in 1951. She was a proud member of the Tri Delta sorority (which she reminded her children repeatedly, had the highest grade point average of all the sororities at the University.)

After graduating, she spent a year in Storm Lake, Iowa, teaching junior high English and then returned to the U of I for grad school in journalism. There she met Lyle who was in his 3rd year of medical school and they were married in 1953. Their first son, Joseph, was born in 1954 and shortly thereafter, they moved to Tacoma, Washington where Lyle completed an Army medical internship and second son, Michel, was born. After his internship they moved to Garner, Iowa where Lyle opened a family medicine office. Stephen was born in 1956, Mark in 1957, Teresa in 1959, John in 1962, Susan in 1964 and Gregory in 1968. Joanne was an avid reader, loved art and Hawkeye sports.

JoAnne loved nature, especially birdwatching and has passed on this passion to all of her children. She kept several bird feeders in her yard and regaled visitors with stories of unusual birds she had seen. She allowed a pair of robins to nest on a wreath by her front door, despite the mess they made and delighted to see them return every year calling them, “our robins.” She had several pet canaries one of which she named Frederic, which later laid an egg and thus needed a name change. Jo Anne loved plants and flowers of all types and especially her “emperor” tulips, her lilacs, pussy willows and her potted flowers. She loved her dogs and over the years owned several German Shepherds, despite the fact that they often tried to scare away any delivery drivers who happened to come up the driveway. JoAnne was fond of writing letters and sending them with the latest postage stamps. She was amazing at not only remembering the birthdays of her grandchildren but sending birthday and Christmas presents to all 29 of them. She was at the Garner post office so often she was on a first name basis with the staff. She was small but resilient. Somehow, she was able to bear and raise eight rambunctious children while keeping house for a very busy doctor-husband, while rarely resorting to:“wait til your father gets home.”

JoAnne is survived by five children, Joseph (Julie) Fuller, Stephen Fuller, Teresa (Jeff) Brown, John Fuller and Gregory (Jodee )Fuller; ,two daughters-in-law, Julie, (Mike) Fuller , Rochelle (Mark) Fuller; and a son-in-law, David Grove. She has 29 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren; three surviving brothers, Michel, Thomas and James; and three sisters, Susan Miller, Mary Riherd and Margaret Walbolt.

She was preceded in death by her son, Michel, in 1993; her husband, Lyle, in 2002; her daughter, Susan, in 2007, and her son, Mark, in 2021, all succumbing to cancer. Her brother Pete (John Peter) died in 2019.