Joyce Marie (Reiten) Bigaouette

Joyce Bigaouette, of Granite Falls, passed away on Sunday, July 19, 2020 at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis at the age of 69.

Memorial services will be held Saturday, August 1, 2020 at 1:00 PM at Hawk Creek Lutheran Church in Sacred Heart, MN.  Pastor Dan Bowman will officiate and burial will be in the church cemetery.  Face masks are required and social distancing guidelines will be followed.

Public visitation will be held Friday, July 31, 2020 from 4:00 -7:00 PM with a prayer service starting at 6:30 PM at Anderson - TeBeest Funeral Home in Granite Falls.  Face masks are required and social distancing guidelines will be followed.  In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred.

Joyce Marie (Reiten) Bigaouette was born on May 4, 1951 in Granite Falls, MN to Melvin and Annamae (Prickett Roudebush) Reiten.  She attended and graduated from Granite Falls High School, and then obtained an Associate degree from Golden Valley Lutheran College as a Psychiatric Technician.  Joyce worked various jobs in the Twin Cities before meeting her husband, Mark.  They were united in marriage on July 25, 1981 at Unity Church in Golden Valley, MN.  Following their marriage they relocated to the Belle Plaine/Henderson area where Mark farmed and Joyce worked at Patterson Dental and then Busse Construction.  In 1991, they settled back in Granite Falls and Joyce worked  at the Granite Falls Bank and the Sacred Heart Co-Op before starting her job at Western Mental Health in ’98.

Joyce was a member of the Hawk Creek Lutheran Church where she was active in WELCA, and was also a large part of the recovery community in Granite Falls. She shared her love for music by singing in the choir at Hawk Creek and at numerous family weddings throughout her life. She  had a passion for helping others and was always a “go-to” person for anything.  Joyce and Mark loved to go garage saling with one another and enjoyed many short trips to Sioux Falls and the Black Hills together.  You could usually find her working in the yard, or watching birds out the window with her book by her side for reference.  Joyce was a kind-hearted, compassionate, and caring woman and will always be remembered for her fun-loving spirit.

Joyce is survived by her husband of nearly 39 years, Mark; her brothers: Harry (Marti) Reiten and Wayne (Lois) Reiten; and many nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents; sisters: Lola (Donald) Dambroten and Ellen Bengston; brother, Odell (Mary) Reiten; and nephews: Steve and David Reiten.

May her memory be blessed.