Forest Lake, MN - Joan Buck Crooks

Forest Lake, MN, formerly of Minneapolis, Webster, WI, Owatonna, and Hugo.

It is with heavy hearts that we announce the death of our beloved mother, Joan Buck Crooks who died peacefully in her sleep on July 6, 2025 at the age of 94.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Byron and Lillian Kolbeck Buck, her husband, Robert, her son, Jeffrey, and her brother, Byron "Buddy" Buck.

Joan married her childhood sweetheart, Robert, in 1949, and together they raised five children. She enrolled at the U of MN in 1964 and graduated with honors in 1968 with a degree in elementary education. After teaching in Farmington for a few years she went to work for the MN Department of Education until retiring in 1981 after she and Robert built their retirement home in WI.

In addition to raising a family, attending college, and working full-time, Joan was a prolific seamstress, quilter, potter, jewelry creator, stained glass artist, and avid gardener.

She is survived by her sons, Robert (Susan) and Todd (Barbara), and her daughters, Patricia Martinson (Alan) and Cecile "Petie" Nelson (Ron), sisters Margaret Putnam and Karen Douglas, nine grandchildren, thirteen great-grandchildren, and four great-great-grandchildren.

We will all miss her terribly.

A private family celebration of Joan's life will be held in the early fall.