Joette Irene (Stegman) Svendsen, 50, of LaSalle died July 4, 2015 at OSF St. Francis Medical Center, Peoria.

A memorial visitation will be held from 4-8 p.m. on Friday, July 10 at the Merritt Funeral Home, Mendota.

Joette was born Oct. 21, 1964 to John and Mary (Lundstrom) Stegman.

Survivors include one son, Lucas of Mendota; two daughters, Lindsay Svendsen of Chicago and Miriah Cronin of LaSalle; her father, John (Jean) Stegman of Angel Fire, N.M.; one brother, Phil (Tammy) Stegman of Ames, Iowa; one sister, Johnna (Curt) Shryack of Moline; and her fiancé, Paul Vincent Gerace of LaSalle whom she worked with as a production supervisor at Cookie Kingdom in Oglesby.

Joette grew up in Earlville alongside her older sister, Johnna and younger brother, Phil. She graduated from Earlville High School in 1982 with dreams of radio broadcast journalism. On July 3, she suffered a brain aneurysm and she died at 3:38 p.m. on July 4. To know Joette was to know a beautiful smile, a blessing and a woman who without a thought would give you the shirt off her back. Her laughter was as explosive as the fireworks that burst the day she passed. She will be greatly missed but her life will live on through everyone she met as well as through her gift of organ donation. She was the best mother to her three children as well as a second mother to many.