Joyce Gassman Aug. 2, 1928 – Feb. 19, 2019

      Joyce Gassman age 90, died peacefully, Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2019 at her home with her family by her side.
Mass of Christian Burial will be held 11 a.m. Wednesday morning, Feb. 27, 2019 at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Monticello with interment in the Sacred Heart, Cemetery, Monticello.  Friends called from 4 until 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2019 at the Goettsch Funeral Home, Monticello and after 10 a.m. Wednesday at the church.  A parish Vigil Service will be held at 4 p.m. at the Goettsch Funeral Home on Tuesday.  Fr. Paul Baldwin officiated at the services.  In lieu of flowers a  memorial fund has been established for  donations to the Monticello Food Pantry and the Monticello Public Library. Thoughts, memories and condolences may be left at www.Goettschonline.com

      Surviving are six children, Kyle (Kimberly), Kirk (Kimberly Iwan), Kristin (Russell) Dirks, all of Monticello, Kelly (Clint) of Marion, Korey of Minneapolis, Kitt of Seattle, four grandchildren, three great-grandchildren, her sister, Jan (Don) Knapp of Cascade, her sister-in-law, Jeanette Freese of Monticello.   She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Paul, an infant daughter, Kerry, a sister, Jean Hosford and a brother, Duane Freese.

      Joyce Augusta Freese was born Aug. 2, 1928 in Lovell Township, Jones County, Iowa. She was the daughter of Gerhard and Josephine, Curtis, Freese.   She attended Lovell Township school #9 and graduated from the Sacred Heart High School in 1946.  She continued her education at the University of Iowa and then took a job with Rand McNally in Chicago.  She returned home to take care of her father when he was ill.  She worked at Collins Radio in Cedar Rapids during that time.
Joyce married Paul Gassman on Sept. 18, 1954 at Sacred Heart Catholic Church.  Joyce worked at John McDonald Hospital as a nurse's aide.  She was one of the original nurse's aides at the Monticello Senior Home and was employed there for 35 years retiring in 1993.

      She was a member of the Sacred Heart Church the Little Flower Study Club, she taught CCD, Marriage Encounters and Christian Experience Weekends.  She was active in Operation Friendship a program to bring inner-city children to the country for several weeks in the summer. She helped start the Giving Tree program and the Monticello Food Pantry.