Kathryn Erma Sponaugle

MONONA-Kathryn Erma (Joyce) Sponaugle passed away on Saturday, Nov. 9, 2013, at the Heritage Monona Senior Living Campus where she had lived for the past several years. She was born on Sept. 30, 1922. Kathryn was one of 11 Joyce children born to Harry and Erma Joyce of Richland Center. Kathryn was preceded in death by sisters, Eleanor Jambois and Lorraine Brazone; and brothers, James, Tom, and Joe Joyce. Kathryn is survived by sisters, Marie Wanless, Louise Foster, and Joan Sinniger; as well as brothers, Pat and Emmett Joyce. She is also survived by roughly 50 nieces and nephews, way too many to name here. Kathryn was raised on the family farm and in Richland County. She attended the Lower Buck Creek School for 8 years before moving on to high school in Richland Center. In 1942, Kathryn graduated from County Normal and began teaching at the one-room, Log Chain School in Bear Creek. In 1952, she received her Bachelor of Science Degree and continued her teaching career in Madison. While working for Harper and Rowe Publishing Company in Chicago, she met and married Leonard Gildon in 1960. In the early 1960‘s, Kathryn and Leonard moved to Tucson where Leonard got his teaching degree. Kathryn taught school while she worked on her Master’s degree. She received her Master’s in Education degree from the University of Arizona in 1963. They later moved to Wilcox, Ariz. where Leonard taught school and Kathryn became a school principal. Once they had both retired in 1985, Kathryn and Leonard moved to Mesa, Ariz. Leonard passed away there in 1988. In 1990, Kathryn married Warner Sponaugle, a retired teacher and school principal from California. Kathryn and Warner lived comfortably in Mesa during the winter and spent their summers on the road in their motor home. They both loved to square-dance and they traveled the U.S. every summer visiting family and attending “shindigs”. By the time of Warner’s death in 2004, Kathryn had begun her long battle with dementia. She soon sold her home and entered The Citadel Retirement Center in Mesa. When her condition worsened in 2010, she moved back to Wisconsin to be closer to her family and resided at Heritage Monona until her death. The entire Joyce family is grateful for the care she received at Heritage and from Agrace HospiceCare. While having no children of her own, Kathryn was especially caring to many of her nieces and nephews. She took many of them to special events and entertained them in ways that will be long remembered. She was a “classy lady” who was always coiffed and “dressed to the nines”. Even through the last difficult years, she looked good every day; and she was proud of it. Friends and family are invited to celebrate Kathryn’s life at a Memorial Service at GUNDERSON EAST FUNERAL HOME, 5203 Monona Dr., Madison, at 11 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 15, 2013. Family and friends are invited to lunch at a local restaurant following the service. Kathryn’s ashes will be returned to Mesa for interment alongside Warner. Any memorials will be donated to the Sunshine Acres Children’s Home in Mesa. Online condolences may be made at www.gundersonfh.com. Gunderson East Funeral & Cremation Care 5203 Monona Dr. (608) 221-5420