JoeAnn Nehmer
JoeAnn Nehmer—beloved wife, mother, grandmother, friend, and artist—died peacefully on July 13 surrounded by her husband of 53 years and two sons. She was 77.
JoeAnn was born in Lansing, Michigan, on September 7, 1945, the daughter of Raymond and Josephine McGlaughlin. A 1963 graduate of Charlotte High School, she lived most of her life in Eaton Co. spending her early years in West Windsor Township before settling in Vermontville, Michigan, where she raised her boys and became active in her community—with Woman’s Clubs, 4-H, March of Dimes, Vermontville Village Council, and three terms as Vermontville Township Treasurer.
JoeAnn’s vocational pursuits weaved through many avenues, from waitressing at local diners to working on the General Motors assembly line, before settling at Hays Green Beach Memorial Hospital (today Sparrow Eaton Hospital) where she served as a respiratory therapist for more than 20 years.
A desire to be closer to her grandchildren, not to mention tamer winters, brought JoeAnn to Monroe, Georgia, in 2015 where she planted immediate roots in the arts community. Always crafty, JoeAnn’s garage studio could double as an art supply store—stocked to the rafters with paints, canvases, brushes, stained glass, and other assorted tools of creativity. Her paintings can be found in each room of her home and hanging on the walls of family and friends. JoeAnn would soon become a fixture at the Monroe Walton Arts Center where she quickly formed lasting friendships.
JoeAnn also was passionate about genealogy, tracing her family back many centuries and recently completing a years-long project to join the Daughters of the American Revolution.
JoeAnn is survived by her husband, Tom; sons, Marc and Matthew; grandchildren, Caroline and Benjamin; daughters-in-law, Lauren and Stacey; step-granddaughter, Samara; brother, John; and sister, Mary. She is preceded in death by her brother, Charlie and daughter, Gale who passed away in 1973. Her family plans to return JoeAnn’s ashes to West Windsor where she will be interned in the family plot across the road from the house where she grew up.
We will be celebrating her life with a gathering on Saturday, September 16, 2023 at 11:30 a.m. at the First Congressional Church in Vermontville, Michigan (110 S. Main St., Vermontville, MI 49096).
If you are in the area and are available, we would love to see you and share in her memory. We will have lunch after the event hosted by her longtime Vermontville area friends.