Joanne
Roush Holmes
Joanne Roush Holmes, 64, of Grand Island died Thursday, August 9, 2007, at Saint Francis Medical Center Skilled Care after a lengthy battle with cancer.
Services
will be at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, at Trinity United Methodist Church. The Reverend Jay Vetter will officiate. Burial
will be in the Grand Island City Cemetery.
Visitation will be from 3 to 7 p.m. Tuesday at All Faiths Funeral Home.
Joanne was born September 8, 1942, in Sheboygan, WI, to Clemens and Mollie (Ruppel) Zenk. She grew up in Mesa, AZ, and received her education from Mesa High School graduating in 1960. While in high school she received the Business Student of the Year Award during her Jr/Sr year.
She met her husband Raymond Roush in Arizona. His family had moved there for his father’s health, just as her family had. They were married on April 14, 1961. Following their marriage they lived in Mesa where she worked at Valley National Bank from 1960-1962.
Joanne and Raymond moved to Aurora, NE to start their family. In 1968 she joined Equitable as part of Grundy & Candish, an insurance agency operated out of the Association’s offices at that time, assisting the mortgage loan officers in her free time.
Beginning in 1974 she began a six year hiatus serving as the Hall County Deputy Register of Deeds. In 1980 she returned to Equitable as Disbursing Officer to help sort through the community’s rebuilding efforts following the seven tornadoes that hit Grand Island in June of the at year. During the last 27 years she served in a number of positions at Equitable. Before retiring in December of 2006 her current position at Equitable was Executive V.P./Chief Administrative Officer, Corporate Secretary and as a member of the Board of Directors.
On May 21, 1986, she lost her first love of her life. After being widowed for seven years she married Melvin Holmes in 1993. He introduced her to the sport of fishing and it had become a shared passion; you would most likely find them at their cabin or on their boat at Sherman Lake during the summer with her sons and their families.
Those left to cherish her memory are her husband, Melvin Holmes; two sons and a daughter-in-law, Quinn and Jenny Roush and Wade Roush, all of Grand Island; brother and sister-in-law, Eric and Dee Zenk of Sedona, AZ. and six grandchildren, Devin, Whitney, Jake, Karisa, Nick, and Haley; niece, Kari Naegele and nephews Andrew Zenk and Kirk Zenk. Her parents and husband Raymond Roush preceded her in death.
Joanne was a member of the Trinity United Methodist Church. She was very active in the community serving on the YWCA Board, Saint Francis Medical Center Foundation Board; she also served in a number of community housing groups such as the Regional Planning Commission. She was Co-Chair for Community Health Charities Campaign, was a member of Rotary, Yancey Condominium Association, Trinity United Methodist Finance Committee. She was active with the United Way, Chamber of Commerce and a graduate of Leadership Tomorrow.