Joanne Loree Hugg Dierking, a Kansas girl with a Wyoming heart, passed away December 6, 2025 at her home in Lander, Wyoming. Joanne was the daughter of Valeda Florence Cundiff (1917-1973) and Herman L. Hugg (1913-2001). She was born May 6, 1952 Clay Center, Kansas. Celebration of Life Services will be held in the spring.
Joanne treasured her Kansas farm upbringing and often reminisced about growing up and her family. She spoke of her brother Dave, the oldest sibling, who worked alongside their dad on the farm and was a University of Kansas football player. He was responsible for her being a life-long KU sports fan, even after Wyoming and Josh Allen stole her heart. Her sister Kathy was the one with whom she learned the rock and roll dances. And her sister Joyce made a trio of girls who shared lots of love and laughter and who sometimes found hijinks in which to indulge in the short time between the end of the school day and when their mother returned from her teaching position.
Joanne talked about the frugality of farm life in the 1950s, dinner around the dinner table, the “men” returning late to dinner after a long day in the field, and the one upstairs bedroom the girls shared that was cold in the winter and hot in the Kansas humid summer. When brother Dave brought home his girlfriend Phyllis, Joanne had a third sister when Phyllis became Dave’s wife. She described her childhood as “fields to run in, barns to play basketball in and creeks to dabble in”. Laughter was a hallmark of their home and Joanne carried and shared that laughter through the rest of her life. She had a ready and beautiful smile and loved to laugh.
Despite attending a small, rural school that they were only able to attend because they were driven to the school-district boundary to catch the bus, Joanne had exceptional secondary education opportunities. She had outstanding piano and voice instructors and performed in competitions as well as having a senior piano recital at Chapman High School and appearing in vocal ensemble on television at the state capitol. Throughout her life, she could and would burst into a refrain or song, beautifully on-key and snapping her kindergarten-teacher fingers to create the accompanying beat.
From her early days, Joanne knew she wanted to be a school teacher, and she followed her mother who was an ahead-of-her-time farm wife who taught school. Immediately on graduation from Chapman High School in May, 1970, she enrolled at Kansas State Teachers College, Emporia, Kansas and finished in three years so she could save tuition money and begin teaching as soon as possible. She graduated with a B.S. in education in May 1973, and began teaching special education that fall in Osage County, Kansas. In the fall of 1975, her teaching career took her to Atchison, Kansas where she continued to teach special education and completed an M.S. degree in education from Kansas State University in 1977. In her new teacher interview by the Atchison newspaper, she said “I like music, sports, crafts and people activities in my leisure time.”. Proving true to her statement, she was active in church, leading the Jubilator Choir and in the community she taught macrame classes and organized groups to help special needs children.
A chance encounter with the receptionist at the Presbyterian Church in Atchison changed the direction of Joanne’s life. The receptionist’s cousin, Drew Dierking, was visiting his hometown and she introduced Joanne and Drew to each other. Drew’s grandmother, Madeline, was the first family member to meet Joanne and she promptly nicknamed her Huggie, a name that stayed among Drew’s family until it was replaced by JoJo when the grandchildren arrived. Drew and Joanne were married in Clark, Nevada, December 24, 1977. They honeymooned camping and canoeing in the boundary waters of Minnesota in the summer of 1978 until a phone call from Ft. Washakie became the voice that beckoned them to Wyoming and began their great love with Lander and the state of Wyoming. They never looked back to the Midwest.
Drew predeceased Joanne, passing away June 11, 2016 at the home in Lander. They were married 41 years.
Joanne taught special education at Ft. Washakie from 1978-80 and worked for Fremont County School District #1, Lander, teaching kindergarten, first grade and as a reading specialist in Reading Recovery, Title 1 from 1981 to 2014. In 33 years of teaching in the Lander community, Mrs. Dierking taught generations of families. To Joanne’s family members, it sometimes seemed she taught half the population of Lander. On any trip to the grocery store or visit downtown, she would see someone and mention she had taught them in kindergarten or first grade and then taught their children and sometimes their grandchildren. As good teachers do, she’d remember details of the student’s work and how they behaved in class! And she remembered the best in each child.
Joanne had a passion for teaching and a passion for helping children, but her life’s greatest passion was always her children and grandchildren. Beyond her faith and belief in God, nothing meant more to her than her children Otis Andrew (b. 1985) and Hannah Kathryn (b. 1987). She was beyond grateful for their choices in life partners, Erika DeBoer Dierking and Brent Heming. She felt particularly blessed to live in the same town and get to be friend and family with Erika. It was her great happiness that she was able to be with her grandchildren so often. Otis and Erika’s children of Lander, Jude, Scarlett and Isla and Hannah and Brent’s children of Boise, Idaho, Andi and Sophie Grace.
The years after retirement were grandchild-focused years. Andi Loree was the first grandchild and Joanne reveled in teaching her as a grandma and not as a teacher. She loved the summer visits from Andi after Andi moved to Boise. Jude’s baseball, soccer and football games were lots of fun, no matter the weather. Scarlett’s dance recitals, practices and competitions were a new world that she thoroughly enjoyed. Isla’s imagination provided a great level of creativity for Joanne to enjoy. Joanne loved taking the children to and from school with Erika. Little Sophie Grace in Boise “talked” over FaceTime with Jojo from birth and recognized her on the IPad. Joanne was thrilled that her children and their spouses are great parents to their children.
In addition to being survived by her children and grandchildren, Joanne is survived by her brother Dave and sister-in-law, Phyllis Hugg of Emporia, Kansas, sister Joyce and brother-in-law Zach Sahker of Pittsburg, PA, and brother-in-law Don Smith of Spring Grove, IL. Her sister, Kathy predeceased her in 2025. She is also survived by her sister-in-law Cassy (Cathy) Dierking and Jerry Venters of Lander, WY and Kansas City, MO. Cassy and Joanne enjoyed living the last nine years as sisters here in Lander and Joanne, Cassy, and Jerry spent happy hours along the banks of the Popo Agie River at the condo.
Joanne was a good friend to many who returned her friendship and supported her through her years of teaching, raising children, medical needs, celebrating high points and lifting each other up through life’s challenges. These friends were the ones you could and did call in case of emergencies. Their friendship will be remembered by the family forever.
Memorial donations may be made to Fremont County School District #1, Joanne Dierking Memorial, 863 Sweetwater St., Lander, WY 82520. The funds will be used to provide teacher-recommended reading materials for Gannett Peak Elementary School.
Joanne loved Wyoming. She became a woman and teacher of the history and culture, a lover of nature, the high desert and mountain foothills, a proponent of the values and supporter of all things Wyoming. Apparently, it seems it is possible to take Kansas out of the girl, if you are replacing it with Wyoming.