Joanne M. Janzen

Joanne Marie Janzen, 82, died in Evanston, Illinois, on October 6, 2025, just twenty-seven days after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She was the first of four children born to Paul and Esther Zerger, in Great Bend, Kansas, on October 10, 1942.

At Bethel College, Joanne was greatly inspired by the radical vision of the early church and 16th century Anabaptists, leading to a life-long commitment to community, peace, and social justice activism.  After graduating from Bethel College, North Newton, Kansas, in 1964 Joanne married David Janzen on September 4, 1964. Joanne and David served with the Mennonite Central Committee from 1966 to 69, in the Teachers Abroad Program in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In 1970 Joanne completed her M.A. in English Literature at the University of Kansas and gave birth to Natasha that same year. In 1973, Joanne and David adopted son James at the age of fifteen months. Joanne and David were founding members of New Creation Fellowship an intentional Christian community in Newton, Kansas, affiliated with the Shalom Association of Communities.

In 1984 Joanne and David with their middle-school children moved to Evanston, Illinois, where they joined and participated in the intentional community of Reba Place Fellowship until the present. Joanne found meaningful employment at the Northwestern University Library where she supervised and befriended many foreign student assistants in the Core Collection.

Joanne loved music and played piano well, assisting Fellowship worship both in Kansas and in Evanston. She was an introvert who nevertheless, managed to befriend and encourage an unusually wide network of neighbors and acquaintances from many different ethnic groups and nationalities. Her language of love for others was impromptu gifts of home-grown flowers and vegetables, as well as carefully selected photo cards for birthdays and anniversaries for friends around the world. She delighted to share food from Reba’s “Manna Garage,” a distribution point for donated produce and baked goods, to bless folks in need. Joanne was known as the “bicycle lady” around town into the last month of her life. In her trademark red backpack, she usually had protein bars and fruit ready people in need with whom she made quick acquaintance.

Joanne is survived by husband of 61 years, David Janzen; daughter Natasha Janzen Ulbricht with husband Ingo Ulbricht of Berlin, Germany; son James Janzen with wife Emily Anderson of Evanston, Illinois; five grandchildren, Damien, Derrick, Tobin, Noah, and Jaden; and three great-grandchildren, Damoni, Roman, and Hendrix. A celebration of life service will be held at Reba Place Church on November 1, 2025, at 4:00 pm.

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