Mary “Joyce” Fields was born April 20, 1926, to Grover and Mary Helgerson Hendrix near Harrisburg, South Dakota.
She went to rural Lincoln County schools and Harrisburg High School, graduating in 1943, as class valedictorian. She worked at NW Security Bank in Sioux Falls from 1944 until her marriage in Harrisburg to Mern Fields from Rock Rapids, Iowa, on April 3, 1949. They lived in Sioux Falls until 1952, when they moved to a farm near Rock Rapids, where they lived until 1983 when they retired to town.
She worked in the Lyon County Auditor’s office for 15 years as voter registration clerk from 1974-89. She was secretary at the Congregational Church of Christ for 26 years, and a member for 67 years, also having served on several committees and singing in the choir. One of her favorite things was joining relatives and friends around the piano, singing “Golden Oldies” usually with her sister Bobbie playing the piano.
She is survived by one sister, Barbara “Bobbie” Gough, Sioux City; sister-in-law, Mary Jane Livengood of St. Louis, Missouri; children, Dave (Mary) Rock Rapids, Connie (Brent) Smets of Buck Grove, Iowa, and Kevin (Deidra) of Seward; eight grandchildren, Heather Fields, Meghan (Josh) McClure, David (Dustin) Soroka, Jared Soroka, Trevor (Jordan) Smets, Hannah Smets, Colby (Bear) Smets, Noah Fields; great-grandchildren, Haley McClure, Micah Fields, Calvin John (CJ) Sigmund, Mackenzie, Kaden, Chloe, and Keegan McClure, Ayden and Avery Soroka, Scarlett Smets, Adeline Smets; and great-great-grandchildren, Bradley Copeland, Evelyn Ramirez, Cole Burns, and Luna McClure.
Preceding her in death were her parents; her beloved husband. Mern, in 2001; daughter, Debbie in 1995; two infant granddaughters, Emma and Grace Fields in 2002; great-grandson, Cole McClure in 2022; her brother, Homer Hendrix (Helen); and sisters, Gladys (Al) Rietberg, Verna (Jack) Mader, and Carol (Eddie) Wilson; sister-in-law, Helen Hendrix; and brothers-in-law, Mel Gough and William Livengood.
The funeral service will be at 10:30 a.m. Friday, July 11, at Jurrens Funeral Home in Rock Rapids. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions are suggested to the Rock Rapids EMTs.
Arrangements by Jurrens Funeral Home in Rock Rapids, Iowa.
