Obituary/Joy Delilah Gust, 93

A Mass of Christian Burial was held on Monday, April 13, 2026 at 11:00AM at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Greenbush, MN. Visitation was held on Sunday, April 12, 2026 from 3-5PM at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Greenbush, also one hour prior to the service on Monday. Interment will take place at Gust National Cemetery.

Joy Delilah Gust, age 93, passed away on Easter Sunday, April 5, 2026, at Greenbush Lifecare Manor with her devoted husband Joe by her side. They were married nearly 70 years.

Joy was born to Jonas and Alida (Erickson) Vatnsdal on November 16, 1932, in Duxby township north of Badger, MN, where she grew up on the family farm along with 5 brothers. At about the age of 16, she attended UMN, Crookston and soon after began to teach at the Grass Lake School in the Benwood area of Poplar Grove Township. There she met her future husband Joseph Matthew Gust, and they were married in Greenbush, MN on the 9th of July 1956. After a short period living in Middle River, MN they soon built a home in the Benwood area of Strathcona, MN that became the family farm.

Their early years of marriage were characterized by the hard work of building a farm from scratch and starting a family. Land had to be cleared, buildings raised, and the continual chores associated with cows, pigs, chickens and 8000 turkeys required constant attention. Joy’s energy was remarkable, she was always on the go and a very hard worker, milking cows daily and tending a huge garden in addition to all the typical farmwife tasks like cooking, baking, canning, cleaning, laundry, bills, shopping and childcare…not to mention helping neighbors and volunteer work. All five children were raised on that farm and have come to treasure the life lessons they learned there as well as the closeness they gained as a family. Both Joy and Joe supplemented their income by working at Polaris and other PT jobs for several years as the kids became older.

Family was of the utmost importance to Joy. She gushed about her children to the point of embarrassment (for them) and insisted on hosting or attending every extended family event possible. Beyond family, Joy simply loved PEOPLE. “Company” would drop by to visit several times weekly, and it almost always resulted in a table conversation over coffee with some delicious baked good that was somehow always “ready”. She seemed to remember everyone’s birthday, typically sending a handwritten card and often hosting a birthday party at the farm. Her faith was important to her, and she played organ and led the singing for many years at St Joseph’s Catholic Church of Benwood. She was always ready to offer help with an errand or a ride to her neighbors, and literally prepared thousands of meals for others over the years. Her cooking skills were legendary.

Music was also an important facet of her life. Joy could play multiple instruments and even had a brief radio stint with her brother James as a teen. She played organ and led the singing for many years at the Benwood Catholic Church. She accompanied her husband Joe to many of the weekend “dances” he played accordion at, even joining in at times to play or sing. Later, they frequently attended music “jams” together in the winter in Arizona.

Near the end of their farming career and into “retirement”, Joy and Joe began to spend time during the winters in the Mesa, AZ area…eventually purchasing a small mobile home in Apache Junction. They thoroughly enjoyed their time there, meeting new friends and encountering familiar “snowbirds” they knew from northern MN. In 2015 they sold the farm to their youngest son Ron and moved to an apartment in Greenbush, then eventually moving into assisted living at Greenbush Lifecare Manor.

Joy is survived by her husband Joseph, her brother Ray (Ardy) Vatnsdal, sisters-in-law Marcella (Tony) Gust, Eldri (Dennis) Vatnsdal, Betty (Dallas) Erickson, and Dorothy (Jim Myers) Pesch, children Jack (Annette) Gust, Cheryl (Wayne) Hanson, Mike (Michelle) Gust, Sue (Doug) Rydel, and Ron (Jodell) Gust, grandchildren Stacey/Nick/Brandon/Brittany (Jack), Erica/Troy/Chauncey (Cheryl), Christian/Alek (Mike), Jake/Jessie (Sue), Nicole/Jonas (Ron) and their spouses, as well as 23 great grandchildren and 1 great-great grandchild.

She was preceded in death by her parents Jonas and Alida Vatnsdal, her husband’s parents Max and Rose Gust, her brothers James, Dennis, Gerald, and Doyle Vatnsdal, an infant sister, her brothers-in-law Harry, Bud, and Tony Gust, and granddaughter Candace Gust.