Joyce Audrey Helle Espe, 85, of Bigfork, Minnesota, passed away on March 18, 2025, and was welcomed into the presence of God.

Joyce was born to George and Margaret Helle of St. Paul, Minnesota on April 28, 1939, the youngest of two daughters. She had many happy childhood memories of summers at the lake and picnics at the park with her beloved family and extended family.

She graduated from Wilson High School in St. Paul in 1957 and the University of Minnesota in 1961 with an elementary education degree. Later in life she went on to receive her master's degree, also in elementary education from the University of Minnesota.

Her adventurous spirit led her to start her long teaching career by teaching in Okinawa, Japan for the U.S. Navy. Throughout most of her career, she taught in elementary schools in St. Paul Public Schools. She had a passion for teaching and touched many young lives. She retired from St. Paul Public Schools in 1999.

The lives she touched most deeply were the lives of her family. When she and her first husband served as missionaries in the Philippines, they adopted two children, Joel and Lani. She was a loving and encouraging mother and grandmother to her 8 grandchildren.

Joyce was united in marriage to Donald Espe on August 15, 1992, at the Church of Acts in East St. Paul, Minnesota.  Following retirement, Don and Joyce moved to rural Bigfork to start their adventure "up north."  She relished life on the lake and enjoyed kayaking, canoeing, fishing, gardening, and mowing the lawn on their property. She loved playing piano and leading worship with her husband Don for the residents at the Bigfork Valley Nursing Home and at the Fellowship of Believers Church. Her friends at the Fellowship of Believers Church were like her family.

Above all, Joyce loved the Lord Jesus with all her heart. She looked forward to heaven and spoke of it often in her later years.

From 2021 to the time of her passing, Joyce lived with her son and daughter-in-law in Virginia for six months out of the year to escape the extreme cold of northern Minnesota winters. She made lovely new friends at Grief Share and Joy Club Bible study at Purcellville Baptist Church. It was her joy to live at home in rural Big Fork with her daughter Lani during the glorious northern Minnesota summers.

Joyce was preceded in death by her parents; her sister, Joan Boraas; brother-in-law, Stan Boraas; and her husband, Donald Espe.

Joyce is survived by son, Joel (Christine) Huchthausen of Waterford, VA; daughter, Lani Huchthausen of Bigfork, MN; stepdaughter, Ericka (Andrew) Stooksbury of Mahtomedi, MN; grandchildren: Rachel and Claire Huchthausen, Conrad and Julian Hull, and Noah, Nathan, Asher, and Levi Stooksbury.

A visitation will be on Friday, April 18, 2025 at 10:00 AM at Rowe Funeral Home, Grand Rapids, MN followed by an 11:00 AM funeral service. Elder Doug Folsom will officiate. Burial will be at Itasca-Calvary Cemetery, Grand Rapids, MN.