Joyce Louise Pemberton

Joyce Louise Pemberton née Iaggi was born to Christian Peter Iaggi and Rosina Anna Burgener Iaggi in Dundas, IL on June 28, 1930. Joyce grew up on the family farm near Dundas, IL. Her father was a rural mail carrier and her mother was a school teacher. They also raised and milked Brown Swiss cows by hand and machine. She had many fond memories of helping her father deliver the mail on bad weather days, making homemade ice cream, driving the tractor to help out on the farm as well as butchering and processing hogs, cattle and chicken. She spoke of going with her father to buy Brown Swiss calves in upstate Illinois and bringing them home in the car between the seats!

Joyce attended and graduated high school in Olney, IL and attended and earned an Associate’s degree from Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, IL. She worked as a secretary for the County Surveyor of Urbana County, Illinois and in Food Service at Harper College in Palatine, IL. Joyce and Richard Dan Pemberton were married on 30 April 1951 in the First United Methodist Church in Olney, IL. Her proudest accomplishments were raising her two sons and her daughter.

She loved music, singing in the chorus, playing piano, and teaching Sunday School. Her favorite songs included: In the Garden, I’d Rather Have Jesus, He Touched Me, The Spirit Song, and Go Tell It On The Mountain. She was a member of First United Methodist Church - Richardson.

Joyce is preceded in death by her parents, Christian Peter Iaggi & Rosina Anna Burgener Iaggi; and siblings, Dorothy Rosina Iaggi Sterchi and Glen Christian Iaggi.

She is survived by her husband, Richard Dan Pemberton; children: Richard Dan Pemberton Jr (Terri), Gary Lee Pemberton (Valerie), and Lynda Louise Pemberton Progler (Michael); grandchildren: Bobbie Jean Pemberton, Taylor Janelle Pemberton, Chance Carson Pemberton, Diana Lynn Pemberton McFatridge, Thomas Lee Pemberton, David Brian Pemberton, Caryn Yvonne Pemberton Uy; and 10 great grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, please make a donation in Joyce’s honor to the Alzheimer’s Association or to the charity of your choice.

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Joyce Louise Iaggi was born on 28 June 1930 at home in Dundas, IL. Joyce grew up in Dundas on the family farm. The doctor and nurse came and spent the night when she was born. Joyce's middle name, Louise, was in honor of the nurse, Louise Wheeler.

Joyce on the Farm: In the early days Daddy drove horses and buggy to deliver the mail. He started delivering mail when he was 18 years old, about 1916. He married Mother in 1921. Daddy’s folks lived about half way through his route. He’d stop and change horses and eat lunch with them and continue on his route. It would be an all-day job. After he bought a car, it shortened the time on the route and he would get home about noon and farm the rest of the day. I can remember going with him on bad days. I’d walk about one and a half miles over the bad road (mud or ice or both) and deliver the mail, meeting him on the other side. Daddy bought a new car (we always had a family car and his mail route car) every three years for the mail route. After he was done with the car, he would drive it down to the ravine at the creek, he would park it and leave to get a new one. Dan always found that a funny thing to do. We assume that Daddy did the same with the buggies that he drove on the route before cars came along. We would like to have a “dig” in that ravine to see what we could find.

I can remember Daddy going and breaking the ice on the horse trough in the winter and making ice cream. Glen would sit on the reservoir of the cook stove and eat his ice cream with soda crackers. We would invite the band director, Gus & Mary Sliva, out for ice cream.

Daddy was on the Richland County Fair Board in Olney, IL. The folks showed Ancona Chickens at fairs before I was born. They had silver loving cups for that. Later we showed Hampshire sheep and Brown Swiss cows. Glen showed Berkshire hogs in the Future Farmers of America (FFA) at the fair.

Before Mom and Dad were married, Mom taught school in one-room school houses (Ginder and Oak Dale schools). She graduated from Normal College in Normal, IL. All 8 grades were in one room. One place she had about 8 or 9 students from the same family. The father came to visit the school and told her if she had any problems with his kids to tell him and he’d come and remedy the situation. She drove horses to the schoolhouse each morning and put them in the stable made just for that. She also had to start a fire in a pot belly stove each morning.

Mother was superintendent of the Children’s Division of our church in the basement and Daddy was superintendent of the Adult Division upstairs for some years.

Mother belonged to the WCTU (Women’s Christian Temperance Union).

Mother and Dad milked by hand our Registered Brown Swiss cows every morning and night, 365 days a year. When they were not at home, they had to have someone else come over and milk them. They would ask a neighbor or Dorothy and Lester (Daughter and Son-In-Law). Later on they had milking machines. They would separate the milk (the cream in one can and raw milk in the other) in the smoke house. They would sell the milk to Prairie Farms Creamery located in Olney, IL. Prairie Farms had trucks that would come out to the farms to pick up the cans of milk from the farmers. They would have a day for the pickup. We would go to Olney, IL almost every Saturday to buy groceries and visit relatives. Daddy would go into the Prairie Farms office and pick up the check for the milk and buy gallons of ice cream.

In winter time three neighbors (husbands and wives) came together to butcher a calf and/or a hog at each house for our meat each year - Billie & Ollie Kermicle, (brother and sister) our neighbors to the North and Earl & Elva Cumree to the South. They would hang the calf or hog up in the Walnut tree in our backyard, dip it in a barrel of hot water and then skin it and butcher it. Some we would cold pack in mason glass jars and for the hams and bacon they would hang in the smoke house and smoke them. Mom would hang a chicken on the clothes line by its feet in the chicken yard, chop its head off, dip it in scalding water and then pluck the feathers off.

The big bell that Lynda has was on our lead cow (Nellie). She always led the cows wherever they went. We’d go open the gates from the North pasture, about ¼ mile or so north of the house. The herd (5 or 6 cows) would follow Nellie down the road and into the barn to be milked. The cows would stay in the barn overnight. Mom and Dad would milk them in the morning and then take them to the pasture for the day. Daddy went upstate Illinois where there were Brown Swiss calves for sale. He would buy one that he wanted and we’d bring it home in the car between the seats!

We’d load the hay that was cut in the fields on the wagon with about three slings. When we got to the barn we’d load the slings onto a rope and pull them up to the hayloft in the barn one at a time. I would drive the tractor to pull them up.

We hired the land out, but when the war came along there was no one to work the land, so Daddy bought a Fordsome Tractor. I drove the tractor in the fields doing the plowing, discing, and harrowing. The first time I met Dan’s mom (Granny) I was in a halter and shorts on a tractor in about 1947.

Joyce Louise Iaggi and Richard Dan Pemberton were married on 30 April 1951 in the First United Methodist Church in Olney IL. They were married by Rev. Keener. Dan and Joyce both graduated from high school in Olney and attended Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, IL. They lived in Urbana, IL and Mt Clemens, MI while Dan was in the service. Joyce lived with her folks (Chris and Rose Iaggi) in Dundas, IL while Dan was in Korea. Rick was born while Dan was in Korea. They lived in Brush, CO, Bellaire (Houston) TX, Midland, TX, and Hoffman Estates (Chicago) IL. In 1981, they moved to Plano, TX for only 4 months and then back to Midland, TX where they retired.