Joann Karen Bauermeister Kramer was born on October 29, 1945 in Norfolk, Nebraska. She was the second of two children born to Elmer and Gesine (Heineman) Bauermeister of rural Wayne, Nebraska.
Joann grew up on the family farm southwest of Wayne. She suffered many difficulties in childhood, including a serious bout with polio which almost took her life. She always remembered fondly her close childhood relationship with her brother, Vernon.
Joann attended District 57 country school of rural Wayne and then transferred to Hahn – the campus “lab” school at Wayne State College. She recalled how she and her female classmates liked to embarrass the male college education students who taught their class and the rough time that her whole class gave the student teachers. Hahn closed at the end of Joann’s junior year and her class made a very difficult transition to Wayne High School for their senior year. Joann was an excellent student, earning all, or nearly all A’s and A+ grades. She completed her high school requirements and wanted to graduate early and begin college, but her high school counselor would not permit this because she was still only 16 or 17. Joann did graduate from Wayne High School in 1963 and began secretarial classes at Norfolk Junior College.
She then took a position as legal secretary with a law firm in Norfolk and lived with her good friend Janet in an apartment they rented from Mrs. Stedry in Norfolk. For entertainment, they took long walks every evening and Joann remembered with frustration that when they began to be stalked by some boys in a car, the police told them to stop their walking.
Joann was married to Donald Nau On December 28, 1965 and they lived on farms in rural Stanton and Wayne, Nebraska. To this union, four sons were born – Dallas, Brent, Christopher and Aaron. Raising four sons and working on the farm were very hard work. During this time, Joann’s faith in Jesus continued to grow and her Lord helped her through many difficult times. As her sons grew older, Joann took a job as receptionist/data entry clerk at Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company of Norfolk. She hated the job, but the benefits were so good that she couldn’t quit, especially after her marriage ended.
Joann married David Kramer on July 3, 1987, thus inheriting three step children – Scott, Jenny and Heidi. Their family suffered great tragedy when Joann’s son, Christopher died in 1989. During the terrible days of grieving, they literally experienced the “footprints in the sand” poem as Jesus “carried them”.
David took a Call to serve as pastor of St. Mark’s Lutheran Church of Pender and began there in January of 1990. After Aaron finished the year at Winside High School that spring, Joann and David sold their home in Winside, which Joann had so beautifully renovated, and moved to the parsonage of St. Mark’s. They spent over six years of joyful ministry among the wonderful people of St. Mark’s.
During that time, Joann resumed her education at Wayne State College where she earned her BA degree in Human Services Counseling and graduated Suma Cum Laude. She had been afraid of going back to school as a middle-aged woman with a class of high school graduates, but obviously, she did very well. Upon graduation, Joann discovered that a BA in counseling and a nickel would only buy a cup of coffee, so she immediately began work on her Master’s Degree. She completed most of the work for this degree in a single summer and nearly burned herself out in doing so. Joann then began working for Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska as a contract therapist in their Norfolk office as well as starting a satellite office out of St. Mark’s Lutheran Church of Pender.
When Joann was still in her early teens, the Holy Spirit placed a Call in her heart for ordained ministry. Her parents did not believe that girls should be pastors, so she put that Call on hold. God persisted in calling her, however, and in the mid-90’s, that Call became very strong. The Lord put all the pieces together in some amazing ways, and in 1996, David took a Call to serve as pastor of St. John Lutheran Church in Nashua, Iowa and that fall, Joann began classes at Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa. The academic load of seminary was much greater than that of college, but after completing her first two years, Joann was assigned an internship at St. Timothy’s Lutheran Church of Hudson and Zion Lutheran Church of rural Hudson, Iowa. She returned to WTS for her senior year and graduated in the spring of 2000. At that time, Joann was called as co-pastor with David of St. John Lutheran Church of Nashua and they served together there for four wonderful years.
Joann’s health problems began during their years at Pender. She was diagnosed with a congenital heart problem which was addressed by open heart surgery at Mayo Clinic in Rochester. This was followed in a few months by the need for a pacemaker, and within six months of her first surgery, she had to have a second at Mayo to remove her pericardium – the sack around her heart – which had become infected. Joann never quite recovered from that second surgery.
In 2004, however, she and David accepted a Call as co-senior pastors of St. John Lutheran Church of Beatrice, Nebraska. Joann’s health problems continued in their years at Beatrice – two total knee replacements, two back fusion surgeries, a gall bladder surgery and a third open heart surgery – this time to replace two of her heart valves. During her recovery, she was forced to resign from St. John and retired on disability.
In the fall of 2011, David accepted a Call to serve as pastor of St. John Lutheran Church of Athol, Kansas. Once again, as she had so many times before, Joann made the parsonage “her own” by planting hundreds of flowers, starting a 50x50 foot garden/orchard and almost completely repainting the parsonage. Several years ago, she designed and directed the building from scratch of a new bathroom vanity.
Joann’s health has continued to decline rapidly in the last four years, and deceased mobility due to pain forced her to use a scooter or wheel chair. Her “world” kept shrinking as she was forced to give up so many of the hobbies and interests that she loved so much – substitute preaching, painting, stained glass work, sewing, cooking, gardening, and this spring, even mowing the lawn. Joann suffered monumental and almost constant pain that was only partly controlled by medications.
Her death last Monday night leaves a hole in David’s heart that can never be filled, and also in the lives of the rest of her family and her many friends. David can truthfully say that his years with Joann are the best gift God has ever given him besides the gift of salvation through Jesus. With great sadness for us, but with great joy for Joann, we entrust her to the loving arms of her Savior where He will wipe every tear from her eyes and there will be no more death, or mourning or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever. Praise God!! Amen!!
Joann was preceded in death by her parents and a son, Christopher Nau.
She is survived by her husband David Kramer of Athol; three sons, Dallas (Anne) Nau of Kearney, NE, Brent (Michelle) Nau of Forest Hill, MD, Aaron (Allison) Nau of Fremont, NE; a step-son, Scott Kramer of St. Paul, MN; two step-daughters, Jenny Kramer of Eugene, OR, Heidi (Wayne) Meylan of Ashland, NE; one brother, Vernon (Candice) Bauermeister of South Dakota; five grandchildren, Avery Nau, Matthew Nau, Joshua Nau, Emily Nau, Mason Nau and three step-grandchildren, Wyatt, Ruby & Colt Meylan.