LIVESTREAMLINK FOR DAPHNE "JOANN" CHRISTENSEN

DAPHNE "JOANN" CHRISTENSEN, 91 , of Cherokee, Iowa passed away surrounded by family on Wednesday, September 1, 2021 at the Gardens Assisted Living.

Funeral services will be held on Friday, September 10, 2021 at 10:30 a.m. at the St. Paul's United Methodist Church in Cherokee, Iowa.  Rev. Michael Agnew will officiate.  There will be a family prayer service at 10:15 a.m. at the church.  Burial will be made in the Oak Hill Cemetery at Cherokee, Iowa.  Public visitation will be held at the Boothby Funeral Home on Thursday, September 9, 2021 from 2:00 to 7:00 p.m. with the family present from 5-7:00 p.m. The service will be livestreamed on the Boothby Funeral Home website with the assistance of Fuller Digital Solutions.    Masks are encouraged to be worn at the visitation and the church service.

Joann was born on July 1, 1930, the first of Clyde and Moyne (Mansfield) McGee's 13 children, in her Mansfield grandparents' sod house near Vetal, South Dakota.  Her parents took her home to their nearby log house soon after.

Joann attended first through eighth grade in a one-room country school house in South Dakota, until March 1944, when the family moved to Quimby, Iowa, where she graduated high school in 1948. She attended Samuel's Beauty School in Sioux City and worked at Marge's Beauty Shops in Pocahontas and Cherokee.  She attended many adult education courses over the years, ranging from ballroom and square dancing to crafts, psychology, parenting, handyman training and others.

Joann married Richard Knapp in Quimby in September 1950, and they raised their five children on the family farm near Quimby.  Joann helped with stacking hay and caring for a large herd of cattle and multiple crops until they later divorced.

Joann thoroughly enjoyed more than 30 years of square dancing, where she became acquainted with Marvin Christensen.  The couple married in September 1989 and moved to Cherokee.

She spent many years as a member of the auxiliary at Cherokee Villa Nursing Home, and both she and Marvin happily delivered Meals on Wheels for 12 years.  Joann liked to garden, especially flowers, and had keen interest in nutrition relating to good health, which motivated her to build her Shaklee business, achieving the level of senior director.  She also helped find homes for countless neighborhood cats and enjoyed the companionship of her cat, Pepper in later years.

Joann has been a member of the Methodist Church since moving to Quimby.  While her children were young, she taught Sunday school and Vacation Bible School for several years.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Marvin, brothers Neil, Boyd and Ben, sister Carol and brother-in-law Duane Fee, and sisters-in-law Delores and Mamie McGee.

She is survived by her children, Dick Knapp and wife Jerrilyn of Cherokee, Iowa, Kathy Morton and her husband Don of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Jeff Knapp and his wife Tammy of Bethany, Oklahoma, Kim Hart and her husband Mike of Spring Hill, Kansas, and Niki Knapp and her husband Derek Briggs of Akron, Iowa; ten grandchildren, Jennifer Haler, Deanna Robinson, Chad Booker, Annalisa and Wyatt Knapp, Spencer and Brayden Hart, Skyler, Jader, and Dexter Briggs as well as five great-grandchildren, Austin and Colyn Robinson, Alena Booker, Clayton Wittrock, and Addie Hart.  She is also survived by stepson, Brian Christensen, and step granddaughter BriAnn.

She is also survived by her siblings Merle, of Irvine, California, Larry (Corita) of Fontana, California, Paul (Concepcion) of Horizon City, Texas, Newell (Ramona) of Faribault, Minnesota, and Steve of St. Anthony, Minnesota; Jerri Buhrke of Scottsdale, Arizona, Leafy (Robert) Gahagan of Chicago, Illinois, and Ila (Dan) Jensen of Port Orchard, Washington; also many nieces, nephews, and cousins.