JoAnn M. Fairfield

JoAnn “Jo” Margaret (Eggenberger) Fairfield, 87, of Fort Atkinson, passed away peacefully with her loving husband by her side on Thursday, January 2, 2025.  She was born on September 21, 1937, in Dwight, Illinois, the first of three children born to Fred G. (1911-1982) and Margaret C. (Thomas) (1918-1999) Eggenberger.  The family lived on a farm in Union Township in Livingston County, a few miles east of the Village of Odell, Illinois, when she was born.   A sister, Mary Elizabeth, was born on February 2, 1943, and a brother, Gary Lee, was born on August 19, 1944.

JoAnn attended grade school from 1943-1951 in one-room country schools located near the farm where the family lived in Union Township.  When she reached high school, she rode the school bus into nearby Odell, Illinois and attended Odell Community High School.  She didn’t realize it at the time, but her school bus driver would be her father-in-law a few years later.  During high school, she sang in the girl’s and mixed choruses, sang in the girl’s ensemble, performed in class plays, was a member of Future Homemakers of America, worked on the yearbook staff, was in the librarian club, was treasurer of her sophomore class and president of her senior class.  She graduated from high school in the Class of 1955 and was class salutatorian.

JoAnn met John W. Fairfield, a member of the Class of 1953 and the son of her school bus driver, after she began attending Odell Community High School.  After a while, they began dating.  John graduated from high school in May 1953 and enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in March 1954.  In the latter part of June 1954, John’s mother and grandmother planned a bus trip to visit him at Keesler Air Force Base, Biloxi, Mississippi where he was stationed for electronics training after basic training.  John asked them to bring JoAnn with them.  They worked it out with JoAnn and her parents and the three of them visited John for a week in Biloxi.  JoAnn and John began writing to each other almost daily after that.

JoAnn and John became engaged in May 1955 while John was home on leave from the Air Force for the high school graduation of his brother, Bill, and JoAnn in the Class of 1955.  They planned to get married in December 1955, assuming that John would be able to get a Christmas leave.  The plans worked out and JoAnn and John were married in the Congregational Church in Odell, Illinois on December 18, 1955, with Rev. Ezra Vornholt officiating.  JoAnn’s maid-of-honor was her good friend from high school, Ruth Beck, and John’s best man was his brother, William “Bill” Fairfield.  The wedding ceremony was witnessed by 150 family and friends.  Although the original plan was for John to return to his base in Mississippi and for JoAnn to remain at her home in Illinois after the wedding, the bride changed the plan, and the couple headed south together a few days after the wedding.  They made their first home in an apartment in Biloxi.  A reassignment for John in early 1957 took the couple to Massachusetts and they lived in West Medford for his final year in the Air Force.  JoAnn got a job as a waitress in a donut shop within walking distance of the apartment where they lived.  After John completed his 4 years of active duty in the Air Force in 1958, the couple moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana where he enrolled in college at Indiana Tech.

While JoAnn attended high school, she worked part-time at the G. C. Murphy store in Pontiac, Illinois.  Upon arriving in Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1958, she was immediately able to get a job as a clerk at the G. C. Murphy store there.  Shortly thereafter, she was able to get a better job as a trust department bookkeeper at the Fort Wayne National Bank and she worked there to support the couple until her husband graduated from college in December 1960.  She and her husband relocated to Milwaukee, Wisconsin in January 1961 for his first job after college.  While residing in Milwaukee, the couple had two children, a son, John Mark, born on November 11, 1961 and a daughter, Susan Marie, born on November 9, 1964.

Due to John changing jobs in 1965, the family moved to Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin where they have lived since.  The couple had their third child, a son, Gregory Alan Fairfield, on July 28, 1971, in Fort Atkinson.  When the last of her three children was in school full days, JoAnn returned to work and had a 28-year career in the bookkeeping department of Badger Bank, formerly Citizens State Bank & Trust, in Fort Atkinson, from 1978 until retiring in 2006.

JoAnn’s family consists of three children, J. Mark (Cindy) Fairfield, Fort Atkinson; Susan (Kevin) Sherratt, Janesville and Greg (Amy) Fairfield, Jefferson; eight grandchildren, Abby (Chris) Koepke, Milton; Danny (Talia) Fairfield, Edgerton; Luke (Traci) Sherratt, Janesville; Meghan Sherratt, Janesville; Kameron Fairfield (Brittany Fabian) Beaver Dam; Garret, Carson and Lily Fairfield, Jefferson; seven great-grandchildren, Quinn and Wade Sherratt, Janesville; Piper Fairfield, Edgerton; and Camden, Reese, Kelby and Kinsley Koepke, Milton.

JoAnn is proud of her family and is always anxious to hear what is going on in their lives when they come to visit.

JoAnn has one brother, Gary L. (Sheila) Eggenberger, Pontiac, Illinois and many other relatives in Illinois.  Her sister, Mary E. (Eggenberger) Diemer of rural Pontiac, Illinois passed away in 2006.

Over the years, JoAnn has enjoyed spending time with her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren; curling up with a good book; getting her hands dirty in her flower gardens; cooking; sewing; collecting angel figurines; Christmas shopping for her family; the annual family gatherings at her home on Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve; eating out, especially at a Mexican restaurant; visiting Door County, Wisconsin; vacations in Arizona and attending shows at the Fireside Dinner Playhouse in Fort Atkinson.  She is a very good seamstress and prior to returning to work, she sewed many pieces of clothing for her children and others.  Her biggest sewing project was making 20 identical formals, except for size, for a group of women and girls for a special event in their organization.

JoAnn and John celebrated their 69th wedding anniversary on December 18, 2024.

Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, January 7, 2025, at Dunlap Memorial Home in Fort Atkinson. Visitation will be from 9 a.m. until the time of the service. Burial will follow in Evergreen Cemetery.

If desired, memorials in memory of JoAnn may be made to Jefferson County Cancer Coalition (jcocc.org), Rainbow Hospice or St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

www.DunlapMemorialHome.com

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