Joan LaVerne Copen
On July 7, 2022, Joan LaVerne Copen went to be with her Lord and Savior and many family and
friends that have gone before her. She was the daughter of Wayne W. Veale and Vera M.
(Morroway) Veale, born on November 28, 1942. She was a graduate of Mary D. Bradford, Class
of 1961, and completed her Associates Degree at Gateway Technical College and went on to
become an LPN in 1963. In 1970, she was united in marriage to Harry “Izzy” Copen. The
marriage ended in law, but not in love in 1991. Joan loved the work she’d done for over 50
years. She worked many years at St. Catherines Hospital, St. Mary’s Hospital in Racine and
many private duty jobs before retiring in 2008 after many years at Hospitality Manor Nursing and
Rehab.
She enjoyed the outdoors and doing fishing, water skiing, gardening, taking care of her yard and
cutting her grass until health issues ended her joys in life.
She was preceded in death by mother and father, Vera and Wayne Veale. Her husband, Harry
“Izzy” Copen.Her sister, Barbara J. (Ted) DeLaMatter. Her step-son-in-law, Dennis Bartel Sr.
and her grandson and granddaughter, Dennis Bartel, Jr. and Toni (Bartel) Klassy, and her step-
daughters, Judy (Copen) Bartel and Janet (Copen) Steinhoff.
She is survived by her brother, Wayne W. (Debbie) Veale of Marshall, MI. A niece and nephew,
Diana (DeLaMatter) and Don Billings of New Braunfels, TX. A nephew and niece, Richard W.
and Kimberly DeLamatter of Milwaukee, WI. and many nieces, nephews, great nieces and
nephews, and several grandchildren and great grandchildren. Finally, she is survived by her
loving and caring daughter Gina Louise Copen and her grandson, Elliot Isadore Copen who
were the light and loves of her life.
A special thank you to my amazing friends Rosie Pawlowski-Ashmus and Charlene Lundquist
for all you have done for me and don’t forget to remember the good times! Also, thank you do
Dr. Shah, Jo and team, as well as the amazing nursing staff at Aurora Medical Center.
The family will be having a private family service, but would love for you to join us at Casa Capri
on Sunday, July 10th from 12-3 P.M. to share memories, and enjoy a toast and a meal.
Nancy Walton (Julien)
Joan was such a Sweet Person. Always Smiling and Kind to Everyone. Rest In Peace, Joan.
Thomas Sorensen
Joan's mom and my mom were best friends from childhood, and since her mom had a car and we did not, we went everywhere with their family. Joan was incessantly curious about everything and she and her sister Barbara and I spent many hours in her grandpas back yard in their apple tree. Occasionally we would go over the neighbors fence into their cherry tree, always afraid we would be caught and punished in some unspeakable way. But those were delicious cherries. The veales lived on 27th Ave with grandpa and grandma morraway. Their back yard more or less abutted our front yard so we were always together, billy(Wayne) Barbara Joan and Tommie. Joan's dad was a brother to Linda veal's dad, and was a Chicago police officer. Alan mink lived across the street from Joan and kaarin van dalwyk down the block a bit. Plenty of summer hijinks as we were basically unsupervised by our working mothers, as by this time Joan's mom was divorced and was a working mother. Benedict lake was fave weekend picnic for the families, with plenty of hot dogs, potato salad and chips to be washed down by Pepsi. Good times for all in those summer days. That's how I remember Joan.
Janice Sadowski
So sorry to hear the bad news. Just too soon.
John Sturino
So sorry to hear od Joan's passing. She was a fun girl, never saw her upset or nasty. Looks loke she had a great life.
Marilyn Copen (Birky)
Aunt Joan you will be with uncle Izzy now
Carol Kramer (Miller)
Rest in peace Joan
Diane Rose (Schaefer)
Sorry to hear of Joan’s passing. She leaves happy memories!