Joannita M. Stauffer

Joannita May Stauffer, 74 of Wayland, died Friday, March 14, at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City following a short illness.

Visitation began at noon today March 17, at Sugar Creek Mennonite Church, with family present from 6 to 8 p.m. A funeral service has been set for 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, March 18, at Sugar Creek Mennonite Church, with the Rev. Nathan Luitjens officiating. Burial will be in the Sugar Creek Cemetery. Beatty Funeral Home in Wayland is assisting with arrangements.

A memorial has been established for the Mennonite Central Committee.

She was born May 24, 1933, in Wayland, the daughter of Joseph Hirschy and Magdalena Wagler Hirschy. On May 31, 1953, she married Dareld Stauffer, in Sugar Creek.

She is survived by her husband; four children, Michael Stauffer and his wife Julia Alderfer Stauffer of Harrisonburg, Va., Sonya Stauffer Kurtz and her husband Roger of Rochester, N.Y., Jo Helmuth of Goshen, Ind., and Lieda Stauffer and husband Tom High of Appleton, Wis.; three sisters, Joyce Conrad, Lula Swanson, and Frieda Bachman, all of Wayland; her brother, Duwaine Hirschy of Wayland; and 10 grandchildren.

Her parents, sisters Edith Blosser and Ila Lengacher, brother Elwyn Hirschy, and daughter-in-law Brenda Stauffer preceded her in death.