JONES, LuAnn

The White Mountain Independent, Show Low, Arizona ~ 01/17/2014 LuAnn Jones, 63, resident of Menominee, Neb., and resident of Holbrook died Jan. 11, 2014, in Yankton, S.D., of ALS. She was born Nov. 4, 1950, to Ignatius Loecker and Hildegard Albrecht Loecker in Yankton, S.D., at the Sacred Heart Hospital. LuAnn attended St. Boniface School, graduating from eighth grade and then graduating from Mount Marty High School. She then entered nursing school at the Sioux Valley School of Nursing in Sioux Falls, graduating in 1972. She worked for a year at Sacred Heart Hospital and married her childhood sweetheart, Duane Jones, on Aug. 3, 1973. They moved to Arizona, where LuAnn worked as a nurse and eventually became the director of nursing at the local hospital. In 1989, she and her family moved back to Nebraska, where they bought her home farmstead. She returned to work at Sacred Heart Hospital, where she worked for 23 years, with 22 years in the outpatient dialysis unit. She retired in October 2012 because of the advancement of her illness, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS — Lou Gehrig’s Disease). LuAnn is survived by her husband, Duane of St. Helena, Neb.; son Neil (Jennifer) of Fort Collins, Colo.; daughters: Heather of Richmond, Va., Holly and fiance Jason of Wilmington, N.C., and Katie (Josh) Fischer of Vermillion, S.D.; grandchildren: Ansley, Jacob, Evan, Brogan, William and Colin. She was preceded in death by her parents, sister Denelda and brother Harold. A Mass of Christian burial was held Jan. 16 at St. Boniface Catholic Church, Menominee, Neb., with the Rev. David Fulton officiating. Burial in the parish cemetery. The Opsahl-Kostel Funeral Home and Crematory in Yankton handled arrangements. Call (605) 665-9679.