My Mother JoAnn is the youngest daughter of
George and Dorothy (Beintema) Berhenke. For as long as I can remember mom as has always had a passion for caregiving,
and a deep compassion animals. She was employed with Dr Stone's veterinary clinic as well as the Scott county humane
Society. We always had some type of critters in our home, whether it be dogs, cats, birds or racoons.
After moving to Lyndon in 1981 she decided to pursue a career in Nursing,
she She obtained her CNA License in Morrison, IL and started out her nursing career at Good Samaritan in Prophetstown, Il.
When times were hard she began Working double shifts working 2nd shift at Good Samaritan and 3rd shift at Winning Wheels in
Prophetstown. When time allowed she would also help handicapp individuals that lived in their own home.
Mom is the most unselfish person I know, always putting others
first.
She has hosted 7 exchange students over the years. 1 from Hong
Kong , 1 from Slovakia, 2 from Germany, 2 from Japan and 1 from Viet Nam. They were each here for 10 months.
She got very attached to them, they were like her own children, it was very heart-wretching when
it was time to send them home to there countrys.They are very much missed. The boy from Hong Knog came back and went
to college for 5 years and his mother and brother came for a visit and spent time at JoAnn and Rogers home.
And their german son Sebastian's parents came for his Graduation and stayed for
a week. They became very good friends, and JoAnn & Roger had the opportunity to go visit them in Germany in 2003.
Today, in her free time she enjoys working on preserving our family history,
she has put many long, hard and frustrating hours into creating family books, for the Berhenke, Sutton and Beintema family's.
Just one more way of showing her love for family.
