Joan Strom

Joan Ruth Gustafson Strom was born on May 14, 1948, to Maxine and Charles Gustafson in Dawson, Minnesota. Maxine gave piano lessons, and Charles was a high school math teacher and football coach who also painted houses during the summer. After graduating from Dawson High School, Joan attended St. Olaf College in Northfield and Hamline University in St. Paul, where she studied music. In December 1966, she married Gerald Strom, who also hailed from Dawson. They had three daughters: Laura, Jennifer, and Kirsten.

The family first moved to Urbana, Illinois, so that Gerald could pursue his Ph.D. studies. When Gerald became a professor at the University of Illinois, Chicago, in 1973, they moved to the suburb of Brookfield, Illinois, and lived there for many years while making frequent return trips to Minnesota. Inspired by the characters in the television show MASH, Joan earned her certification as a surgical technologist from Triton College in River Grove, Illinois. She then worked as a highly respected colleague assisting in orthopedic surgery at Cook County Hospital in Chicago for 25 years before she retired. She chose to work at Cook County because she believed everyone had a right to excellent health care, regardless of income. Following her retirement from the hospital, she shared her expertise as an instructor at Malcolm X College and Triton College.

Gifted with a beautiful soprano singing voice, she was also a soloist in the James Chorale and the Chicago Choral Artists and was often hired to sing at weddings and in church choirs. Throughout her life, she also shared many other talents, sewing clothes for her children, baking treats for her colleagues, and growing fruits trees, berries, and vegetables in her yard. In her retirement, she volunteered regularly at the Morton Arboretum’s Schulenberg Prairie, which inspired her to transform her own yard into a thriving pollinator garden. She subsequently earned multiple garden awards from the Village and many compliments from her neighbors. She traveled extensively around the country for orthopedic conventions and also to Europe with her choral groups. Joan spent her final years in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she lived near her youngest daughter, Kirsten. She passed away on February 19th at the age of 77.

Those who knew Joan will remember her for her kindness, generosity, and conscientiousness. She was a nurturing presence not just to her own family but to other children in the neighborhood, and to the abandoned stray kittens and the numerous dogs she and her daughters adopted. Joan was proud of having raised her children “with a dog and a piano,” and she always supported them in the pursuit of their interests and in careers in the arts. She will be very much missed.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in Joan’s memory to the Hinsdale Humane Society or the UMRC Porter Hills Benevolent Fund.