In lieu of flowers the family has requested memorials to the Lytton Friendship Center.

   JoAnn Denise was born January 6, 1933, in Storm Lake, Iowa. She died May 8, 2015 at her home in Lytton, Iowa.  She attended and graduated from the Lytton Community School in 1951. She attended and graduated from Iowa State University with a BS in Home Economics and Applied Art.  She later received a Masters Degree in Elementary Guidance. 

   JoAnn Denise Albright was the first of four daughters born to Ted and Iva Denise.  She grew up on the farm north and east of Lytton, Iowa, learning at a young age the responsibilities of life on the farm.  She recalled picking mustard out of the oats for a penny per hundred.  Also caring for the chickens and household duties guided her to Iowa State University where she earned her degree in Home Economics and met her husband, Jim. Through the years she taught home economics and art, and was a guidance counselor in a number of area schools.  JoAnn was a hard worker, constantly busy doing housework, cooking for the family, and yard work. Her conservative upbringing taught her to not waste anything, attempt to fix about anything and not live extravagantly.  Through her later years she found pleasure in her art work creating many paintings of the outdoors. She loved painting flowers. Her winters were spent in Fort Myers, Florida where she helped start a local artist’s workshop. She was also an original organizer, founding member and tireless worker of the Lytton Historical Museum.  When the Lytton Presbyterian church closed in 2013 and the church Elders were faced with the choice of tearing down the building or finding a suitable buyer, Jo Ann stepped forward and submitted the only bid for the church that she had grown up in and was a member for over 70 years.  It has become the Lytton Friendship Center, available for community events and family get-togethers. Her request was to have here final services there.

   As JoAnn reached her 70’s health issues began to show up. A heart aneurism was repaired and a replacement valve was put in her heart.  In late 2009 she developed a tear in her lower aorta while in Florida.  While on a ventilator for 19 days and awaiting a medical evacuation to Rochester Minnesota she wrote this to family and friends. “God is helping plan these plans and his angels will be asked to help me through and I’ve been glad to have you ALL as my friends and family.  I have been blessed.  I have also been blessed to have quality family and friends near and far, lived in beautiful Iowa’s bounty, fine schools, and museums.  It’s been exciting to have lived in America.”   The angels saw her through those challenging times and gave her five more years to see several great grandchildren be born and baptized.

   JoAnn leaves behind her husband Jim Albright of Lytton; children: James Alan Albright (Lisa) of Lytton and Jan Denise Monahan (Pat) of Spirit Lake; sister Gloria Riley of Prescott Valley, Arizona, and Karen Hanneman (Larry) of Ames, Iowa; and brother-in-law Larry Larson of Ames.  Grandkids include Ben Albright (Susan), Nick Albright (Krista), Sarah Kinney (Mike), and Brandon Burk.  Great grandchildren are Aidan and Myla Albright, Elin Albright, and Emma, Wyatt, and Molli Kinney. 

   JoAnn is preceded in death by her parents Ted and Iva (Kneller) Denise, sister Rodean Larson, and grandsons Andrew Albright and Isaiah Burk.