Joyce (Behrens) Wallman

Joyce (Behrens) Wallman, 83, of Fargo, North Dakota, passed away on September 7, 2026. She was born on August 4, 1943, in Morris, Illinois, to Elvin and Thelma (Flesner) Behrens, the first of three children.

Joyce grew up in Morris, where music and faith took root early - playing flute, playing organ at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, and singing with the Stephen Foster Singers in high school. She went on to Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, majoring in English with a minor in music. Singing under Weston Noble in the Nordic Choir, she found her Christian faith's deepest voice; the choir's closing hymn, with its words "I will sing to the Lord as long as I live," became something like a personal creed.

In 1965, Joyce married George Wallman, beginning a marriage that lasted 61 years. They raised two children, Marc Wallman and Beth Wallman Zimmerman, and were blessed with three grandchildren: Noah, Lydia, and Kaylie.

Joyce taught high school and junior high English for decades - in Rochelle, Illinois; Rolling Meadows, Illinois; Calmar, Iowa; and, after the family settled in Fargo, at Oak Grove Lutheran and Ben Franklin Junior High. It was at Ben Franklin in the 1990s, that reading Elie Wiesel's "Night" set her on a new path. She was named a Mandel Scholar at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum for two summers, received a National Humanities Fellowship to study under Lawrence Langer at Simmons College, and went on to train teachers across the Midwest in Holocaust literature - work for which Temple Beth El in Fargo named her its Humanitarian of the Year.

Joyce lived her faith through music, singing in the choir of every church she belonged to. For more than fifty years, she was also part of a Fargo birthday club, formed with fellow members of Hope Lutheran Church in 1973, marking each other's milestones for five decades running. She was especially close to her younger sister, Mary Ellen, with whom she shared long drives to Illinois and even longer phone calls.

Those who knew Joyce remember her love of chocolate, ice cream, iced tea, and Aldi's berry gelato, her habit of baking brownies for her grandchildren and eating a fair share herself, and quiet afternoons on the lake deck with a good book.

Joyce was preceded in death by her parents, Elvin and Thelma Behrens, and her sister, Mary Ellen (Behrens) Trapanese. She is survived by her husband of 61 years, George Wallman, of Fargo; her children, Marc Wallman and Beth Wallman Zimmerman and her husband, Eric Zimmerman; her grandchildren, Noah, Lydia, and Kaylie; and her brother, Jim Behrens, and his wife, Linda, of Aurora, Illinois.

Celebration of Life: 11:00am, Saturday, September 12, 2026 at Olivet Lutheran Church, Fargo, ND with a visitation one hour prior. In lieu of flowers please consider donating to HIA Heather's House (Hospice). https://secure.acceptiva.com/?cst=373eaf