Joan Hull, age 94, of Huron, passed away peacefully Thursday, November 2, 2023, at her home.

Her funeral service was held at 11:00 AM, Saturday, November 11, at First Congregational Church. Burial will be in the Morningside Cemetery at Ree Heights.

View Joan's Funeral Folder

Visitation was one hour prior to the service at the church.

Joan Gray was born in Claremore, Oklahoma on February 11, 1929, to Ralph and Leta (Reynolds) Gray and died Thursday, November 2, 2023, at the age of 94. At an early age she moved to Enid, Oklahoma, and graduated from Waukomis High School in 1946.  She attended Oklahoma State University and taught at Turpin, Oklahoma High School.

She married V.W. "Bill" Hull June 5, 1949, and moved to Ree Heights, South Dakota, where they engaged in farming and teaching.  She obtained her B.A. degree from Huron University in 1959, and her Master's degree from South Dakota State University in 1969. She taught in Ree Heights, Highmore and Harrold high schools for seven years, and as a school guidance counselor there for an additional five years.

After her husband's death in 1972, Joan moved to Huron and was a guidance counselor at Huron High School for 15 years before retiring in 1990.  In 1974, she organized both the regional Pheasant Chapter for Counselors and a Solo Parents Group to help the widowed and divorced through the grief process and to provide acceptable social outlets for singles.  She became a National Solo Parent Mother of the Year, South Dakota Guidance Counselor of the Year, and State President of South Dakota Guidance Counselors.  In 1985, she was honored as South Dakota Mother of the Year and later served on the national board for six years. Joan was a member of the United Church of Christ and held many offices in that church

Joan began to collect Hull pottery after her husband's death and had an extensive collection.  After much urging from other collectors, she wrote Hull, The Heavenly Pottery, a pottery price guide book.  She published seven editions in ten years and sold over 33,000 books throughout the US.

In 1995, she began to write a weekly column, "And In Conclusion…", for Huron's The Daily Plainsman.  She celebrated 20 years of writing the column in September 2015.  She won both state and national Press Women's awards for her columns. She published three series of her "And In Conclusion…" books which were compilations of her articles.

Joan had a lifelong yen to travel. She traveled to India for seven weeks in 1979 on a Fulbright Scholarship. After that, she organized overseas tours for groups for the next 20 years while her health held out.  She has traveled on all seven continents and in all 50 states. Her last overseas tour was to Antarctica on January 1, 2000, where she was on Half Moon Bay Island playing with the penguins at 50 degrees.

Joan was preceded in death by her husband; her parents; and her brothers, Dr. Robert and Dr. Gary Gray.

She is survived by four daughters, Judy Hull of MN, Julie (Kevyn) DuMay of NV, Cathy (Scott) Nelson of MN, and Connie (Bob Zacher) Somsen of Yankton, SD. She has nine grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. She is also mourned by long-time companion, Stanley Martens.

View Joan's Floral Arrangements