JOY SUNDAY ROTHLEUTNER

Funeral services will be held for Joy Sunday Rothleutner, 72, at 2:00 P.M. Monday, December 30, 2019 at the Gorman Funeral Homes – Converse Chapel in Douglas, Wyoming with Pastor Roy Phillips of the Douglas Baptist Church officiating.  She will be placed in her final resting place in the family plot in the Douglas Park Cemetery.

Joy was born in Douglas, Wyoming on Monday, August 11, 1947.  She was raised at 1316 Smylie Road and basically spent her entire life at this address other than a few trips to North Carolina and London, England to visit her precious grandsons.  She always said there was no way she would ever ride an airplane, but her need to visit her grandsons, president over her fear to fly.

Joy passed away peacefully early on the morning, Thursday, December 26, 2019 after several years of complication with health issues.  All the family was there for Christmas except grandson Caleb, he had to work and couldn’t be here.  Joy was married to Fred LeRoy Rothleutner for 54 long and wonderful years.  To this union was born three beautiful daughters, Tonja Rothleutner, Kathy Cook, and Tiffany Hodo.  She adored her sons-in-law, Dale Winkley, Micah Cook, and Chris Hodo, and was bound to let them know when she was unhappy with them.  But she was always quick to forgive.

Joy was a simple person with simple pleasures.  She never wanted nor needed anything extravagant, a little car ride to see the country side was a great treat, a bit of rock hounding made it better.  She loved to sew and took great pride in her yards of flowers, raspberries, and bushes.  She would spend hours caring for her yard listening to the birds chirping in the bushes while at her favorite task, all while watching very closely to sight one of her cherished hummingbirds.  She loved her chickens.  She would go out back to what we referred to as the Orchard making sure there was feed and water back there.  She would take a shovel back and turn dirt nearly every day, so her chickens could feast on the worms and night crawlers she turned over.

She dearly loved all her many fur companions over the years.  She especially loved baby anything.  Her deep motherly instincts did not just pertain to her children, it was administered to anything baby, birds, rabbits, cats, dogs, rats, goats, sheep, horses, anything baby.  The only time she ever turned down a baby was when a scrawny little skunk showed up on the porch and when that happened she abruptly pointed her snappy little finger at Fred and said, “you get rid of that thing, I don’t care how, but you get rid of it”.  And when Joy gave a direct order you better just do it.  That maybe makes her sound like a hard woman, but Joy was just the opposite.  There was never a kinder, softer, more considerate, loving, gentle person born than was Joy Rothleutner.  If she had something and you needed it, it was yours.

Joy was raised dirt poor, and her grandmother whom raised her always would say “If you had a dollar you were not broke” and grandma kept a dollar bill in her checkbook never to be spent.  Joy had saved that checkbook with that dollar still in it all these years.  Joy was never broke over the years.  She and Fred faced some very had times, but was never broke.  She drew great satisfaction from very simple things.

Joy is in a much better place now with no more pain and suffering nor straining with every muscle in her body for her next breath of air.  She is now frolicking, running, and rolling through the green fields of heaven with her beloved flower garden and all her feathered and furry friends at her side.  She is laughing and enjoying all the endless lick kisses and hugs from all her animals that passed before her, along with her so much missed brother, Chuck.  She will be so greatly missed and loved forever by all she has left behind.     

Joy is survived by her husband, Fred Rothleutner, of Douglas; daughters, Tonja Marie Rothleutner (Dale Winkley) of Douglas, Kathleen Joy “Kathy” Cook (Micah Cook) of Careywood, Idaho, and Tiffany “Nikki” Hodo (Chris Hodo) of New Underwood, South Dakota; siblings, James Santistevan of Lusk, Wyoming, Frank Fincher of Casper, Wyoming, Bob Fincher of Phoenix, Arizona, and Faith Day of Douglas; grandchildren, Caleb Hodo, Mason Hodo, Landon Hodo, Aden Hodo, and Ariel Winkley; great grandchildren, Savanah Barlow and Michael Barlow; and many many beloved nieces, nephews, aunts, and uncles.

Joy was preceded in passing by her grandma/mother, Phoebe Santistevan; grandpa, Adelino Santistevan; her biological mother, Marjorie Deines; her bother, Charles Santistevan; and many aunts, uncles, and other relatives.

Serving as honorary pallbearers will be her three cherished sons-in-law, Dale Winkley, Micah Cook, Chris Hodo, and her four beloved grandsons, Caleb Hodo, Mason Hodo, Landon Hodo, and Aden Hodo.

RIP – My Dear Love – I will see you again    FLVR   

The Gorman Funeral Homes – Converse Chapel of Douglas, Wyoming is in charge of the arrangements.

Condolences may be sent to the family at www.gormanfh.com

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