Joan Christine Dilts Neumiller, 89, of Galesburg, Ill., died of complications from COVID-19 at 8 a.m. Central on Saturday, Aug. 15, 2020 in Knox County Nursing Home.
She was born Aug. 29, 1930 in New York City (Manhattan) to Anne Gertrude McCulloch of Truro, Nova Scotia, and Reverend William Henry Dilts of Wernersville, Penn. She married Dr. Harry J. Neumiller Jr. of Peoria, Ill., Sept. 14, 1957, in a Scottish-themed wedding officiated by her father at Central Presbyterian Church, Geneseo, N.Y. Her parents and husband preceded her in death.
She is survived by her daughters, Christine (Tom Middleton) of Olympia, Wash., twins Catherine (Paul Schneidereit) of Peoria, Ill. and Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, and Caroline (Jeff) Pfeffer of Deerfield, Ill., her son, John (Joan) of Mahtomedi, Minn., her grandchildren, Benjamin and David Pfeffer, Tom and Grace Neumiller, step-grandchildren, Rebecca and Erika Schneidereit, nieces, Jane and Kate, nephew, Roger, and close cousins in the U.S. and Canada, including Carol Barton Burbank of Mooresville, N.C., with whom she witnessed a Boston Red Sox no hitter July 14, 1956 with Mel Parnell at Fenway Park, Judy MacLean Taylor of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Irene Hamilton Wright of Truro, Nova Scotia, and Heather Proudfoot Phinney of New Glasgow, Nova Scotia.
She grew up as a Presbyterian preacher’s kid (“PK”) in Truro, Nova Scotia, Matawan, N.J., West Chester, Penn., where she attended Friends School, and Maplewood, N.J., where she graduated from Columbia High School in 1948. At Mount Holyoke College, which she attended with her best friend and roommate, the late Connie Berrien, she earned her bachelor’s degree, cum laude, in 1952, with a major in American History, and earned her master’s degree in education from Radcliffe, Harvard University in 1953.
A lifelong learner who loved to travel and research genealogy and Celtic culture, she especially enjoyed trips to Scotland with her mother. She loved cats, gardening, Chicago Cubs baseball, bowling, swimming, canoeing, and the outdoors, and relished spending summers with her Canadian family at Shortt’s Lake and Toney River in Nova Scotia, Canada.
As a staunch advocate for liberal arts education, especially for young women of all backgrounds, she was a much-loved and respected Girl Scout leader and council member, and a teacher of American history at high schools in Attleboro, Mass., Irondequoit, N.Y., and Galesburg, Ill. She met her husband, a film chemist, while working in communications at Eastman Kodak in Rochester, N.Y. In 1959, they moved to Galesburg so that he could teach chemistry at Knox College, his alma mater.
In Galesburg, she was an avid community volunteer for more than 50 years with Knox College Faculty Wives, Hawthorne Club, Girl Scouts and the First Presbyterian Church, where she served as a Sunday school teacher, choir member and 20 years as librarian. She was also involved with Chapter NK of P.E.O., PTA, Reading Is Fundamental, and she was a long-time election judge. In 1978 she chaired the Carl Sandburg Centenary for Knox College. She was an advocate for appreciation of the arts, world cultures and nature education, and as a member of Western Illinois Nature Group (WING), helped to found Blackthorn Hill Nature Preserve. She was an adjunct professor at Carl Sandburg College where she taught Illinois history and sociology, and taught at Hill Correctional Institute, where she was respected by the inmates who affectionately called her “Mom.”
The family wishes to express gratitude for the kindness and support of family and friends, including the staff of Knox County Nursing Home, and members of First Presbyterian and Trinity Lutheran churches of Galesburg.
There will be a private graveside service for immediate family Aug. 22 with a celebration of remembrance at a later date. Rev. Ann Elyse Van Winkle, interim pastor of First Presbyterian Church, will officiate. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Mount Holyoke College, Girl Scouts of America, the First Presbyterian Church of Galesburg or a charity of choice. Hinchliff-Pearson-West Funeral Directors and Cremation Service Galesburg Chapel is in charge of funeral arrangements. Online condolences may be made at www.h-p-w.com.
