Roll Call Tribute

Jo Ann Gerson Kroeger 

June 18, 1948 - June 8, 2023 

Joy Ann Kroeger, always on the go, left this earth on June 8, 2023 while on the road to South Texas to visit friends. Joy was born June 18, 1948, in Houston, TX to parents Mary Ann Nelson and Joseph Arthur Gerson Sr. After graduating from Bellville High School in 1967, Joy went on to earn her Bachelor’s (Home Economics) and Master’s (Education) degrees from Sam Houston University before beginning a doctoral program at Texas A&M. Joy loved working with children and spent over 25 years as a teacher in Anahuac, Texas. She said it filled her heart to see a spark grow within them. She had a strong Christian faith and prayed for all those she loved and cared about.

Throughout her life, Joy was always involved with helping kids. She was a Cub Scout and Girl Scout leader, as well as the adult sponsor of the Catholic Youth Organization at Our Lady of Light Catholic Church in Anahuac. When her kids went off to Texas A&M, she was right there with them as an active Aggie Mom. She found a passion for all things Aggie and was heavily involved with Lara’s sorority and Trey’s Corps of Cadet activities.

Never one to sit back and let life just happen around her, she jumped in and made her own dreams come true. She married Garry, honeymooned in Hawaii and traveled with and without him to wherever she wanted to go. After retiring from teaching in Anahuac, she and Garry returned to her hometown of Bellville where they hosted an annual Fourth of July party for their numerous friends and family. After being hospitalized with serious COVID complications in 2020, she decided it was time for another beach house and spent many days enjoying the sun, the sand, and new friends in Bolivar.

When she wasn’t traveling or spending time at the beach, Joy loved to spend time with her grandchildren, attend church functions and participate in women’s groups like the Red Hat Society and ESA. There wasn’t a person out there that she wouldn’t talk to. In fact, she changed her name from Jo Ann to Joy because she wanted to share her joy with the world. Her last vehicle displayed a sticker proclaiming that she left a little sparkle wherever she goes. While losing her this way is tragic, her family is taking solace in the thought that she went out doing what she loved to do and that the countless students, friends, and people she met along the way have a little of that sparkle and joy in their lives.

She was preceded in death by her parents and her brother Joseph (June) Gerson Jr. She is survived her loving husband of 19 years Garry Kroeger; siblings Roy Gerson and Robin Nelson; children Trey (Samantha) Trahan, Lara (Ryan) Busse, Tonya (Lee) Wilson and Melissa (Justin) Hein; and grandchildren Cade Trahan, Keller, Sawyer and Jana Busse, Zane and Brant Wilson, and Luke and Kellis Hein.

Funeral services will be held at St. John Lutheran Church of Bellville on June 17, 2023. Visitation will start at 9:00 am with a funeral service beginning at 10:00 am, followed by an internment at Pilgrim’s Rest Cemetery in Bellville. Pallbearers are Justin Hein, Luke Hein, Brant Wilson, Cade Trahan, Roy Gerson, and Joe Chappell. Honorary pallbearers are Lee Wilson, Zane Wilson, Kellis Hein, Keller Busse, Sawyer Busse, Jana Busse, Terrell Sladek, and Kelvin Kroeger, Jr.