Joan Mahlen 2025

Remembering Joan

Daughter, Sister, Aunt, Great-Aunt,

Friend, Mom, Grandma

Joan as a daughter and a sister - Wilmot and Watertown

All grown up! Watertown and the WAC

Married with children - Minneapolis and Webster

On her own in Rapid City

Living the Life in Las Vegas

Moving in with Family - NY and ND

Joan as a daughter and a sister - Wilmot and Watertown

Left: Joan's adoptive parents - our Grandpa Walt and Grandma Lou at their wedding. Top small photo of Joan as a baby, and bottom small photo with older brother, Keith. Right photo shows Joan on the far left with family & neighbor kids in Wilmot.

Joan with her favorite bunny.

And she loved chickens!

Here with her favorite kitty.

And more cats!

All grown up! Watertown and the WAC

The whole family with granddaughter Teri! (From left: Walt, Keith holding Teri, Joan, and Lou.)

Joan graduated from Watertown High School in 1963. From there she and a friend joined the WACs (Women's Air Corps) where she served a short time, and after some trial and error was discharged.

She moved back to Watertown to start a new career studying to be a dental assistant. While in Watertown, she ended up meeting and marrying Dennis Mahlen in 1967.

Married with children - Minneapolis and Webster

1967 wedding in Watertown, SD.

Dennis and Joan raised Steve (born 1967) and Nancy (born 1969) in Minneapolis.

And in 1976 the family moved to Webster, SD, back to their roots.

And it was in Webster where Joan truly found her artistic side. She took one class on painting and realized she had a great talent - she started with strawberries, which lead to scenes, which lead to rosmaling. She sewed and painted a variety of projects for many people in northeastern South Dakota, including this cutter sleigh with rosmaling.

On her own in Rapid City

After Joan and Dennis split up in 1992, Joan moved to Rapid City to care for her Aunt Grace, who suffered from Alzheimers.

Joan took trips to see her brother and his family in Las Vegas and also to visit Nancy who went to UNLV and remained in Vegas for a few more years. This photo is of niece Penny and Brian's wedding. Front row from left, brother Keith, niece Penny and her husband Brian and their daughter Charianne, Keith's wife Bernie; back row from left, daughter Nancy, Joan, Aunt Grace and Ep Howe, niece Renee, and niece Teri.

Left photo shows Joan with Keith's second wife, Dianna. Middle photo is Joan in Rapid City proudly showing off a good catch! Right photo is of Joan visiting Las Vegas and enjoying pool time.

While in Rapid City, Joan's love of motorcycles grew into a love of trikes. She spent a lot of time working on bikes and trikes at "the shop" with Ed and friends. She also enjoyed riding with friends, and spending time enjoying nature and fishing up in the Hills. Her trike "Penelope" did not escape Joan's artistic talents - and soon the trike was covered in rosemaling!

Joan won many awards with her trike Penelope, and her show trike "Le Rose". The Sturgis Bike Rally sure created a lot of great memories!

Living the Life in Las Vegas

All of us live our lives balancing our light and dark sides. In the late 1990's and early 2000's Joan was losing the battle with her dark side. Family discussions helped Joan make the decision to move to Las Vegas to be closer to her brother and his family and to begin the road to recovery. We are all glad she did!

Joan at home with her grand-nephews. She never gave up a chance to play, and was one of those rare adults who always had time for "her boys".

Joan enjoying the holidays with niece Renee, and grand-nephew.

Travels to Washington to visit Steve and family.

Travels to Maine with grandsons.

Travels to Maine with Steve and Nancy and families.

Fun in Maine with grandsons.

After quite a few years living in Las Vegas, a new adventure began when Joan retired from her cleaning work and a decision was made to move in with daughter Nancy and family. And so it came to pass that Nancy and Joan did a three day drive from Las Vegas, NV to Geneseo, NY!

Moving in with Family - NY and ND

Joan had a generous spirit, which included always having time to play. Her time living with Nancy & family were spent healing chronic back pain, trying out hearing aids, making quilts and MORE art, making doll clothes, and spending time playing with grandsons.

The grandsons were true winners, with Grandma Joan living close to both.