JO WICKERT
1936-2025
Melba Joann “Jo” Wickert, 89, of Memphis died October 29, 2025 at the Putnam County Care Center in Unionville, MO.
She was born May 21, 1936, to Joseph William Tiemann and Viola Frederika Amelia (Hoehne) Tiemann and raised in LaGrange, graduating from LaGrange High School in 1954. She then attended and graduated from Culver Stockton College in Canton, Missouri, in 1958 with a bachelor’s degree in physical education. She was a member and actively involved in her sorority, Sigma Kappa, serving as President. She taught PE and coached for five years in Meredosia, Illinois, and while teaching there, met and began dating another teacher, Loren Wickert. They married on May 21, 1960, on her 24th birthday, at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in LaGrange, Missouri. In 1963, their son, Scott, was born, and two years later, when Loren bought an existing insurance agency in Memphis, Missouri, they moved to Missouri and made Memphis their home. Their daughter, Angie, was born in 1970.
Jo was very involved with their church, St. Paul Lutheran, in Memphis, teaching Sunday School and Vacation Bible School for over 25 years. She also delivered Meals on Wheels every Thursday for 20 years and volunteered for several years through the Ministerial Alliance at the local Food Pantry and the Clothes Closet
You would often see Loren and Jo attending softball, football, basketball, and baseball games for all their grandchildren and great-grandchildren, traveling as far as Alabama, Florida, and Georgia to watch them compete. She and Loren loved to travel and drove to nearly every state over the last 40 years.
As we say our goodbyes to Jo, we celebrate a life well-lived in a community where her kindness touched many.
She was preceded in death by her loving husband of nearly 65 years and her parents.
Jo is survived by her son, Scott Wickert of Memphis; her daughter, Angie (Wickert) Dunn and husband, Kris, of Birmingham, AL; her sister, Nancy Kay (Bob) Jones of Washington, MO; four grandchildren: Matt (Kara) Wickert of Memphis, Kellyn (Blaine) Robinson of Unionville, Drew (Riley) Dunn of Rogers, AK, and Brady Dunn of Auburn, AL; eight great-grandchildren: Khloe (Stetson Spees), Kabe, Kallen, and Kwyn Hamlin, Myles Wickert, Sawyer, Rhys, and Beckham Robinson; a great-great-granddaughter, Aubrey Spees; many nieces and nephews.
Funeral services were November 1 at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Memphis with Pastor Eugene Stueve officiating. Connie Courtney played the organ on Amazing Grace, How Great Thou Art and It Is Well With My Soul. Drew Dunn, Brady Dunn, Matt Wickert, Kabe Hamlin, Kallen Hamlin and Blane Robinson were pallbearers. Burial was in the Memphis Cemetery.
Memorials are suggested to St. Paul Lutheran Church or the Memphis Theater and can be left at or mailed to the Gerth Funeral Service, 115 S. Main St., Memphis, MO 63555.
Condolences may be sent to the Wickert family by signing the online guestbook at gerthfuneralservice. com.
Arrangements are under the direction of the Gerth Funeral Service in Memphis.
