Joanne Ravaye Christman

Joanne RaVaye (Alkire) Christman, 89 years young, formerly of St. James, passed away at the Emeralds ac Faribault, Skilled Nursing Facility. Where she was recovering from hip surgery and a sepsis infection.
Joanne was born on September 23, 1933, to Burrell Earl Alkire and Gertrude Margaret (Schuster) Alkire in Letcher, South Dakota. She graduated from St. James High School on May 29, 1952. She met Kenneth Melvin Christman at a roller-skating rink in St James. They wed on October 23, 1954, at Salem Lutheran Church in Comfrey, MN at an evening ceremony. She was baptized and confirmed on December 5, 1954, by Pastor Carl G. Fink at the Salem Lutheran Church in Comfrey. Their union produced 6 children: Cheryl Lea, Kenneth Dean Jr., Kathleen RaVaye, Debra Kay, Pamela Jean and Richard Earl. They moved their family from Mountain Lake to Windom, finally making St. James their one true home. Joanne worked outside the home at a bakery and a clothing store until they managed their own business. She then was the Manager of the Hiway Cafe until they purchased Schwans Cafe and named it Hometown Café. After selling the Hometown they became the maintenance staff at Park Apartments. Finally retiring to a home in Ormsby where they could enjoy the small-town lifestyle. A few years after Kenny’s passing in 2006 the home became too much for her so she sold it and moved to an apartment in St. James.
She was a wonderful cook and could make a meal out of anything in the fridge. She made everything from scratch, even for the cafés she managed and owned. For our birthdays she would make whatever we wanted. Her fried chicken and potato salad was always fought over. She enjoyed bowling and bowling on a team with Ken, where they won quite a few trophies. She did a lot of sewing, mostly making clothes for the girls. Retiring gave her more time to enjoy her family, friends, flower gardens, embroidering, reading, word search puzzles, playing cards and even learning to journal all of her many photos.

She will be deeply missed by her children; daughters, Kathy (Charles) Noren of St. James, Deb (Craig) Noren of TX and Pam (Mark) Rettig of Hew Hartford, NY; son, Rich (Lisa) of Waseca; grandchildren, Nick (Jen) Dannhoff and Matt (Sheila) Dannhoff both of St. James, Brandon (Stacy) Rettig of Whitesboro, NY, Samantha Christman of SD, Erik Noren of St. James, Danni Petersen (special friend David) of Rochester, MN, Adam Petersen of Lake Crystal and Courteney Christman, of Waseca; 8 great-grandchildren and 1 great-great-granddaughter; nephews; nieces; cousins and friends.

Joanne was preceded in death by her husband, Ken; daughter, Cheryl; son, Kenny Jr.; mother, Gertrude; father, Burrell; sisters, Ruth Alkire, Donna Sandmeyer and Carrol MacMaster; brother, Burrell Alkire Jr.; brother-in-law, Henry MacMaster; sister-in-law, Pauline Alkire; granddaughter Cheryl R. Rettig.