Joann Lavina Hill

Joann Veenschoten Hill passed on from this earth on Oct. 31, 2020, in Penney Farms, Florida, after over 97  years living out a rich and full life.  

Joann was born in 1923 in Fujien province, China, to missionary parents Rev. Henry Veenschoten, and Stella, his wife, who taught music.  Joann loved singing and filled her home with music.  Home-schooled until the age of 13,  Joann had a calling to be a doctor and attended Shanghai American High School. She enrolled as a premed student at Wayne State University in Detroit in the 1940's.  

There she met Jack Hill, a medical student, and they married, with a vision to serve in the Amoy mission in China for the Reformed Church in America. Raising 5 children, Joann did not complete her medical degree, but helped to set up the medical labs both in China and at Chong Hua Hospital in Cebu, Philippines.

Reading, singing, and encouraging her unique children to find their own callings filled her life with joy. For years, she was active in the choir and Stephens Ministry at Central Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In mid-life, Joann returned to graduate school and obtained her Masters degree in Social Work.  This served her well when she and Jack returned to the mission field in the 1980's, serving at the American Mission Hospital in Bahrain.

When Joann and Jack semi-retired at the Penney Retirement Community in FL in 1992, Joann established the Supportive Care Peer Ministry and offered training to dozens of residents there.  Her warm humor, intelligence, creativity, grace and deep love for people of all cultures marked every aspect of her meaningful life.

While her family grieves her loss, her devoted husband Jack (to whom she was married for 77 years), sons Jack, Jr., Don, Keith, and Robert, and daughter, L'Anni, and their families, now rejoice that her strong faith in Jesus Christ (whose sketched picture Joann hung on the wall next to her family photos) has led her into a clear, face-to-face embrace with that One who is perfect Love.