Betty Joan Iwasko was born in Detroit in 1933 to Ukrainian Immigrants, Nicholas and Mary Semegen. Nicholas drove a Detroit streetcar and Mary worked at Sears, Roebuck & Co. They raised their daughter during the Great Depression to value hard work, self-reliance and education.

Joan was graduated from the University of Michigan in 1955 and then earned a Master's in Education from the University of Detroit at a time when few women pursued post-graduate degrees. After graduation, Joan married her college sweetheart, Harry Iwasko, and settled in the Lansing area. She worked as an elementary and middle school teacher for the next five decades, specializing in English, History and Social Studies. Joan and Harry were married for 62 eventful years until Harry's passing in 2017.

Joan was deeply proud of her Ukrainian heritage, spoke Ukrainian fluently, supported her cousins in Ukraine throughout her life and ultimately traveled to Kyiv in her later years. She also loved literature, theater and art, volunteering as a docent at a number of Lansing museums in her free time.

But Joan's greatest passion was the raising of her two boys, Nicholas and Christian. She worked tirelessly and often thanklessly to motivate them and to give them every possible educational and cultural opportunity. Nicholas and Christian wholly owe whatever success they have enjoyed in their lives to their mother. They have, together with their wives Elisa and Audrey, continued to teach Joan's lesson of education and hard work to her eight grandchildren.

Joan passed away on Sunday, May 26, 2024 in East Lansing at the age of 91. She is survived by her two grateful sons, Nicholas and Christian, and her eight beautiful grandchildren, Antonina, Julian, Kateryna, Ava, Valentyna, Anastasia, Nicholas William Henry and Katarina.

A visitation will be held at 10:00am on Saturday, June 8, 2024, followed by mass at 11:00am, both at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Ukrainian Catholic Church, 26667 Joy Rd., Dearborn Heights, MI 48239.

In lieu of flowers, friends and family are invited to make a small donation in Joan's name to the Ukrainian charity Razom at www.razomforukraine.org/donate.