Joy Anna O'Donnell, 76, longtime Bonner County educator, passed away on Monday, Dec. 26, 2005 in Sandpoint, Idaho.

Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m., Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2006 at First Lutheran Church, 526 S. Olive, in Sandpoint. Pastor David Olson will be officiating. Burial will follow at Pinecrest Memorial Park Cemetery in Sandpoint.

Joy was born on Jan. 23, 1929 in Spokane, Wash. Joy eventually moved to a Wrencoe Loop farm with her parents Ed and Mabel (Burton) Rossman. She never forgot her rural roots.

While attending Sandpoint Senior High (the former Ninth Grade Center), Joy was active in pep band. After graduating from SHS in 1947, she earned an English degree from the University of Idaho and later married Norman O'Donnell. They moved to New York City, where they resided for 13 years. The marriage ended in divorce with no children.

After returning to Sandpoint in 1965, she began teaching English at Sandpoint Senior High. During her 28 years at SHS, she served as head of the English Department and advised the Senior Class, Bibliophiles and Pep Club. She also earned her Master's Degree through summer sessions at the University of Idaho. Her quick wit and sharp mind were unconquerable, and in later years, she was fondly known by her SHS colleagues as "Mother Superior." It was a title that made her proud.

After her retirement in 1992, Joy devoted much of her time to the Bonner County Historical Museum. She was a dedicated and knowledgeable volunteer who had a great appreciation for local history and documenting it accurately. She also performed editing services for Inland Forest Management.

She loved to cook, especially her family's German recipes. She also enjoyed gardening and reading mysteries. She was fiercely competitive and thoroughly enjoyed trouncing her competitors while playing bridge or pinochle.

Joy also loved a good huckleberry patch and was always rarin' to go. On one such outing with the Love family up on Baldy Mountain, a very young Annie Love picked away at her berry bush and curiously inquired, "O'McDonnell, where you are?" Not missing a beat, the ever-clever Joy cast aside her fetish for good grammar and responded, "I are her, Annie. Where you are?"

She always related to young people very well. While demanding the best from her students, she also was there to help them along with her sly humor, great intellect and generosity. She respected her students — a respect which they often returned.

Joy will be greatly missed by her family and many close friends, former colleagues and scores of students who passed through her classroom. She is survived be numerous cousins in the Midwest, as well as close family and teaching friends.

Memorials may be made in Joy's honor to First Lutheran Church, 526 S. Olive, Sandpoint, ID 83864.

Arrangements are entrusted to the care of Coffelt Funeral Services.