Joan Carol Miller was born to Walter and Kathy Miller on March 20, 1935 and was raised on a cattle ranch in western South Dakota. She was the youngest in a family of six. She attended a one-room country school until moving to Rapid City where she attended junior and senior high school. Her senior year of high school she attended Augustana Christian Academy where she graduated in 1952.
When Joan was 15 years old, she made the most important decision of her life by receiving Jesus Christ as her Savior. Throughout her life she testified to this fact. At a Bible camp in the scenic Black Hills, she yielded her life to Jesus Christ.
Joan met the love of her life while a student at Omaha Baptist Bible Institute. Charles Nichols was a farm boy from Iowa, and it didn’t take long for them to know that God was leading them to serve Him together. They were married on June 22, 1955. After graduating from OBBI, they moved to Dunlap, Iowa and pastored a small church there. It was while they were there that their first daughter, Debbie, was born.
In 1957 they moved to Spearfish, South Dakota, where Chuck pastored the First Baptist Church for over seven years. Their second daughter, Becki, was born during that time. While they were there, they began to feel a burden to work with missionary children, and in 1965 they were accepted by Baptist Mid-Missions to work at Fortaleza Academy in Brazil.
They moved to Brazil in December of 1967 and served there for nearly eighteen years. Chuck taught in the school and served as the administrator for ten years. Joan assisted him in many ways, including working as a secretary and librarian. The Lord also allowed them to start two churches in the Fortaleza area and assist in starting one in the interior.
Their two daughters were married in a double wedding on June 16, 1984. In 1985 they returned to the States to serve in the Home Office of Baptist Mid-Missions. Chuck was the Field Administrator for Latin America, and Joan found many ways to serve in the home office as well.
In November of 2000, they retired and moved to Missionary Acres in Silva, Missouri, where they lived until moving to Ankeny, Iowa in 2008. Chuck went to be with the Lord in 2010 after a long battle with cancer. Joan lovingly cared for him throughout that journey, and the truth of the sovereignty of God became very dear to them.
Chuck and Joan were members of Community Baptist Church in Ankeny, where they served as they were able. Joan continued serving behind the scenes on the church directory, prayer bulletins, and secretary for the after-school outreach ministry.
Joan quietly slipped into the presence of her Savior on Sunday, August 26, 2018 at the Israel Family Hospice House in Ames, Iowa.
Joan is survived by her two daughters, Deborah (David) Thompson of Vitória da Conquista, Brazil, and Rebekah (Mark) Lounsbrough of Ankeny; grandchildren, Andrew Thompson (Amy), JoAnna Thompson, Jonathan Thompson, Sarah Lounsbrough, Stephen Lounsbrough (Katie), David Lounsbrough (Marissa), and Daniel Lounsbrough; great-grandchildren, Elijah Thompson, Charles and Madelyn Lounsbrough; and many beloved nieces and nephews. Also surviving Joan are her brother-in-law Dean Nichols (Norma) and sisters-in-laws, Miriam Langmade (Doug), Lorraine Nichols, and Pat Miller. She was preceded in death by her parents, husband, and siblings, Evelyn Forney, Glenn Miller, Mary Ellen Miller, Walter Miller and Berniece Timmons.
Funeral services will be at 10:00 am on August 30 at the Ankeny Baptist Church. Visitation will be from 5-7 pm on Wednesday evening at Ankeny Funeral Home. Burial will be at Reno Methodist Cemetery in Cumberland. Online condolences may be made at www.ankenyfuneralhome.com.
