Joan Marie Niedfeldt Richards of Nathalie, Virginia passed away at age 85 at Commonwealth Senior Living in South Boston, Virginia and entered into eternal life with her Savior Jesus on Tuesday September 29, 2026.

She was born at home in Bangor, Wisconsin on October 24, 1940, to Harold and Frances Milne Niedfeldt, on the three-generation family grade A dairy farm. She was one of four children. She was baptized and confirmed at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Bangor, Wisconsin and attended her church’s Lutheran Day School which began her lifelong primary endeavor to share the love of Jesus with others. Joan was very active in 4-H, growing a 1-acre garden of her own as a child and canning her own tomatoes at age ten, and showed dairy cows at the local 4-H shows. Joan is a graduate of Watertown High School and University of Wisconsin, Madison, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in Education and later her master’s degree in Home Economics-Education.

On June 14, 1961, Joan attended a wedding rehearsal dinner as a guest with her brother who was a groomsman for his college roommate, and met the groom’s brother, Donald R. Richards. Don was then a Lieutenant in the Army, stationed in Germany. During that leave he spent every moment he could with Joan, and before he left to return to his post in Germany, he proposed to her in the moonlight on the grounds of his family’s farm. They wed on June 15, 1963, and so began a 63-year journey that would take them to numerous military posts from Washington state to California, Georgia and Virginia. Joan taught at local schools in all those locations, in grades ranging from kindergarten to middle and high school, as well as the university. She was a leader for the military wives as they moved from duty station to duty station. She held the home together as Don served tours in Viet Nam and state side.

Together they lived for 50 years in Fairfax, Virginia where they raised their daughter, Juliane, born to them in Georgia. Joan was very active at Grace Lutheran Church in Falls Church, Virginia and was a phenomenal Math and Science teacher of grades 3 – 8, Word of God grades 3 – 5 for 28 years at Grace Lutheran Elementary School. Her hands-on lessons brought content to life and strengthened her students’ understanding. Joan’s strong faith was evident not just to her family, but to her students as well. Over the years she taught multiple generations of the same families, some of whom had moved out of state and sent their children to live with their grandparents so that they could be her students. Her students won numerous academic awards, some at the national level. Most importantly, quite a few of her students chose careers in ministry as pastors and teachers of the Gospel. Upon retirement at age 65, she began tutoring students and continued teaching as a volunteer, teaching ESL at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Manassas, Virginia where she spent the last 20 years of her life in active membership with her loving and supportive church family. She was particularly fond of the “Jesus Cares” ministry for adults with intellectual disabilities.

Joan loved the beach. She loved spending as much time as she could at the ocean-front home they had saved for decades to build in Rodanthe, NC. She loved to fish in the surf, and to spend time with her grandchildren, Kati and Rusty, and take long walks on the beach together with her dogs.

Joan was an amazing baker and cook. Her Christmas cookie plates were legendary! Each year she tried to add one more kind of cookie or candy to her plates. She passed on her love of German and Norwegian heritage recipes and the skills needed to reproduce them to her daughter and grandchildren.

Joan was a lifelong gardener and passed on that knowledge as a Master Gardener, spending more than 4,000 hours volunteering in the past 20 years as well as serving as secretary to the State of Virginia Master Gardener Association. In 2023 Don and Joan moved to Southside Virginia to a home near Juliane and Russell, where she continued her love of gardening in tall, raised beds, and watching the wildlife pass by her windows.

If we all strived to contribute to the people around us as much as Joan did with the intention of pointing people to Christ, the world would be transformed. She would be the first to give God all the glory for the opportunities He provided her to do so, as well as the outcome.

Joan went home to heaven to be with Jesus on Tuesday September 29, 2026.

Joan is survived by her devoted husband, Donald Richards, two sisters, Karen Schwenke (Robert, Mesa, AZ) and Sandy Ciske (Dan, Seattle, WA), her daughter Juliane Thurston (Russell) her cherished grandchildren, Kati Krogh (Joshua, Lynchburg, VA) and Russell H. Thurston(Lynchburg) , as well as one great grandson that she adored, Everett W. Krogh, her dear God-daughter Holly Campbell (Dave, Newnan, GA), her treasured friend and teaching colleague, Jules Cross (Doral, Florida), many beloved nieces and nephews and grand-nieces and nephews.

She has been reunited in heaven with her parents, her brother, Ronald Niedfeldt, and four babies lost in miscarriage.

A memorial service celebrating Joan’s life is planned for Friday October 16 at 1:00 pm at Jeffress Funeral Home, Brookneal, Virginia. Joan was a lifelong educator. In lieu of flowers, those wishing to give a memorial are asked to consider the Little Stars of Bethlehem Preschool Ministry, 9748 Copeland Drive, Manassas, VA 20109.