Joan Elizabeth Hedahl departed from this world in the same way she arrived—in love and surprise, and always ahead of her time. Joni died on January 18, 2016, at the Cape Fear Valley Medical Center, after a brief hospitalization.

A mass of Christian burial will be held at St. Patrick's Catholic Church on Friday, January 22, at 1 p.m., with a vigil and visitation at Jernigan-Warren Funeral Home on Thursday evening from 6:00 until 8:00pm

Joni was born on May 29, 1952, a bit ahead of expectations, the second child and first daughter of Neil and Winnifred (Coyne) Hedahl, in Bismarck, ND. She was little sister to one and became big sister to three, and a joy and a treasure to all. Her siblings are Dick (and Gloria) Hedahl, Jane (and Dan) Schreck, Mary (and Doug Magee) Hedahl, and Ann (and Matt) Walsh.

Joni attended Will-Moore Grade School, Hughes Junior High, and Priory High School in its last year of existence, and she graduated from St. Mary's Central High School. While still in high school, she took college classes at Bismarck Junior College, something considered routine now, but unheard of in Joni's time. She graduated with a degree in political science from the University of North Dakota in 1973. In high school and in college, she was a stalwart member of the speech and debate teams.

Joni was among the pioneering women in law school in the 1970s, first at UND and then graduating from the University of Denver School of Law in 1976. Even before graduation, she was working in then Colorado State Treasurer Sam Brown's office on issues of fair banking practices for home loans. In 1978, Joni began working in the Legal Aid system, first in Caruthersville, MO, and then in Albert Lea, MN.

With the dismantling of the Legal Aid system in the 1980s, Joni went into private practice with Debra Radtke, an attorney she had worked with in the Southern Minnesota Legal Services office. In 1981, they founded Hedahl & Radtke Family Law Center in Fayetteville, NC. Joni and Debra have been two of only three Board Certified Family Law Specialists in Cumberland County. Their deep friendship and mutual respect helped shape their law practice into a model of client advocacy.

In recent years, Joni has been an adjunct instructor in the paralegal program of Fayetteville Technical Community College. She enjoyed her students and took great pride in seeing them take positions in the offices of her colleagues in the Fayetteville area. Joni was a natural teacher and took seriously her duty to help people learn. Even the motto of Hedahl & Radtke is instructive: "Enforce Your Rights—Honor Your Responsibilities."

Joni served on numerous boards, including Lumbee River Legal Services, which served the Fayetteville area, and was a founding member of the Women's Center Board. Since 1986, Joni has been on the board of directors for Hedahls, Inc., serving as chairman of the board of this Bismarck-based corporation since 1994.

Anyone who spent any time with Joni came to know that music was always with her, bursting forth in exuberant show tunes or moving folk songs when possible and bubbling over in quiet humming when not. She played guitar and piano (or any instrument she picked up) and in the 1980s composed an operetta based on the Cold War. She even played clarinet in the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra for several years.

From her earliest years, Joni had a fierce sense of justice and a compassion for the oppressed and disadvantaged. As a young girl, she followed closely the work of Civil Rights activists. As a new law school graduate, she worked against redlining practices in the banking industry. She was a voice and advocate for the voiceless during her work in Legal Aid. In her work in family law, her deepest concern was always for the wellbeing of the children, and recently she was doing more and more work in mediated settlements in large part because the reduced rancor between parents was beneficial for the children. Her steadfast faith in Catholic theology was animated by its teachings on social justice. In 1997, Joni met and fell in love with Debbie Gowen. Their long relationship was finally recognized officially on October 13, 2014, the first day same-sex marriage was legal in North Carolina. Joni delighted in Debbie's sense of humor, marveled at her ability to engage anyone in conversation, and admired and supported her open-hearted generosity to those in need. Whether at their seaside escape, on a cruise, or snug in their own home, Joni and Debbie found great joy together.

Left stunned by Joni's sudden death are her wife Debbie Gowen, and Debbie's daughter Angie (and E.W.) Tibbs and granddaughters Emma and McKenzie Tibbs. No less stunned are Joni's law partner Debra Radtke, her entire staff at the law firm, and her friends and colleagues in Fayetteville and across the country. Her nieces and nephews and great-nieces and nephews will never again know her curious interest in their lives or her effort to know them each in their passions and personalities: Katie and Scott Ferderer, John and Tenille Hedahl, Angie Hedahl, Mary Schreck, Tom Schreck, Tim and Julie Magee, Joey Magee, Jackson Magee, Neil Walsh, Danny Walsh, Tommy Walsh, William Magee, Natalie Magee, Grace Hedahl, Elijah Hedahl, Carter Hedahl, Jack Hedahl, and Nicholas Ferderer.

It is her brother and sisters—those who have known and loved Joni longest—who must go on in their privilege and their loss.

Rejoicing to be reunited with Joni are her parents and grandmothers, her aunts and uncles. Her grandfathers, who never knew her in this life, will lead a parade of ancestors eager to know her gentle humor and keen intellect in the next. And if Heaven lives up to its reputation, Joni is pain-free at last, welcome to dream and scheme and sing and dance without constraint.

Joni loved flowers, but she also understood the power of well-placed financial support. Memorial contributions in Joni's name can be made to CEED, formerly the Women's Center (910-323-3377; www.ncceed.org), Better Health of Cumberland County (910-483-7534; www.betterhealthcc.org), Kingdom Community Development Corporation (910-484-2722;www.kingdomcdc.org).