Joanne Dee Sell

Joanne Dee Sell

Marion

Joanne Dee Sell, 57, of Marion, Iowa, died peacefully after a long illness on February 26, 2024, in the company of family.

Anyone meeting her would assuredly fall under the spell of her possibly infinite charm. In 1990, she earned a bachelor’s degree from Mount Mercy University in English and Philosophy. She was never afraid to use them. Immediately after graduation, she spent time teaching in the United Arab Emirates and in Czechoslovakia. She was never a tourist, but rather a traveler. She led an artistic and creative life, leaving her painting and writing as the means to get to know her. She was an advocate for the blind and the mentally ill, and in her later years was employed at Abbe Center for Community Mental Health as a peer support counselor, talking on the telephone with those in need over the Iowa Warm Line. She is loved and will be missed.

She is survived by her spouse, Jeorgia Robison, two children, Jonah Tompkins and Josephine Tompkins, father, Gene Sell, brother, John Sell and his spouse Erich Cochran. She was preceded in death by her mother, Marilyn Sell.

A Celebration of Life will be held Saturday, March 9, 2024, at Marion Christian Church beginning at 1:30 p.m. In lieu of flowers memorial donations may be made to the Iowa Department for the Blind, Abbe Center for Community Mental Health, or the UI Health Care Catalyst Fund.

Online condolences may be directed to the family at www.iowacreamation.com under Obituaries.