Joy (Spence) Holerud, age 65, of Wilson, Wisconsin died Thursday, November 25, 2021 at her home in Cady Township.
A memorial service for Joy will be on Saturday, December 4, 2021 at 11 a.m. at Gilman Lutheran Church, Spring Valley.
Visitation will be from 9 a.m. until 11 a.m. at church prior to the service. Burial will be in the Gilman Lutheran Church Cemetery.
Joy Marie Holerud spent her last mortal moments in the home she built with her high school sweetheart and husband, Bob. They'd built it together, on the south edge of his family's farmstead. A modified A-frame in the midst of a glade, it was their hidden home until the autumn colors fell away. Then on Thanksgiving weekend, they'd turn on the colorful strings of lights that made it look like a giant Christmas tree to everyone driving by. This was her season: Her name sung with gusto, printed with glitter on trinkets, and most importantly, a feeling she gifted to all she met.
Joy was born in Menomonie, Wisconsin to Wayne and Anita (Iverson) Spence. She spent her youth among the forest and fields of the family farm. She dedicated her soul to serving God and Christ from baptism to death at Gilman Lutheran Church. She threw her cap with Spring Valley's graduating class of 1974. That winter, December 28th, she wed Robert Allan Holerud in the presence of many friends and family.
After years of strengthening their relationship, Bob and Joy decided to raise more than dogs and cats. Within hours of entering the world, December 31st of 1983, their firstborn left it. But their broken hearts only opened further, resolving more deeply to have children. They raised three, sending them to the same school they had attended. She even came into the classrooms as a substitute now and then. She kept the home, worked for a few area businesses over the years, and still she was only a phone call away. Sick children were retrieved and cared for. The Weather Channel checked for Bob's trucking routes. No one needed a reason to call though. She often walked around the house with Bob on the open line, just going about their days together while apart.
And that, perhaps, is our greatest gift and sorrow: the other end of the line is only a memory on tape. Joy's voice repeating the same words to everyone who calls, and yet each of us knowing how she would answer if she could.
Joy was greeted in Eternity by her eldest daughter, Tracy Lynn Holerud; parents, Wayne and Anita; sister Marsha Jean; and father-in-law, James Holerud.
She lives on in the hearts of her beloved husband, Bob; daughters, KeriAnn (Eric Rehnberg) and Randie (Kyle Harbek); son Craig (Cassie) with her grandchildren Henrik and Lakyn; siblings Wendy (Jeff) Steen, Mark (Pam) Spence, and Valerie (Dan) Rabe; mother-in-law, Virginia Holerud; and many aunts, uncles, other relatives, and friends.
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