Joanne Einersen

Madison
Joanne Grace Steege Einersen
Joanne Grace Einersen [nee Steege], a 30-year resident of Madison, Wisconsin, died on April 3, 2015, after an extended illness.
Joanne was born May 2, 1933 at Hackensack Hospital in NJ, of the Rev. Martin Th. Steege and Amanda (nee Paulsmeyer) of East Rutherford. After her mother's death, she was raised by her stepmother, Lucie Steege [nee Cloeter]. An extremely talented musician, Ms Einersen had a long career as an organist at several Madison area churches, most notably Holy Redeemer, where she supported the choir as well as the congregation from September 1995 until her retirement in November, 2013. She had a fond and deeply moving approach to sacred music and excellent improvisational skills, making preludes and postludes vital and memorable. In this way she followed a tradition dating back to the Middle Ages and modified significantly in the Baroque period, especially by Buxtehude and Bach.
Music always played an important role in Joanne's life. Her musical training began with piano lessons and choir experience while in grammar school and organ lessons while at Richmond Hill High School in Queens, NY, from which she graduated in 1950. She continued her musical education through junior college at Concordia Collegiate Institute, Bronxville, NY, and Concordia Teachers' College, River Forest, IL, where she earned her Bachelor of Science degree in 1954. After teaching at various Lutheran schools in Wisconsin and Long Island, she earned a Masters in Sacred Music at Union Theological Seminary in New York in the spring of 1960 and an 18-month course in Improvisation.
During her time in Madison, she developed a strong network of friends in the musical and artistic community, especially among the choir and staff at Holy Redeemer and at Luther Memorial Church, where she was a member before joining Holy Redeemer. In addition to her music, friends knew her as an avid poet and writer of fiction.
Married in November, 1960 to Alan Einersen, she lived in Kew Gardens, NY before moving to Hightstown, NJ, during which time they adopted son Eric, born Sept. 10, 1965. He predeceased Joanne in February, 1992; her former husband also predeceased her, in 2011. She is survived by four siblings (Naomi Fackler of The Woodlands, TX; Rhoda Kriesel of West Orange, NJ; Martin "Ted" Steege of South Hadley, MA; and Dr. John F. Steege of Chapel Hill, NC) and numerous nieces and nephews. A Memorial Mass will be celebrated on Wednesday, May 27, at 10:30 a.m., at Holy Redeemer Roman Catholic Church, 120 W. Johnson Street, Madison, with interment to follow at Highland Memory Gardens, 3054 Highway BB.
In lieu of flowers, gifts would be welcome to the Cathedral Parish or to Rowland Hall St. Mark's School, Salt Lake City, Utah, the school attended by her late son Eric.

Cress Funeral Home
3325 East Washington Avenue
608-249-6666