Nobody in this town died today. But according to the obits in the local paper, three "passed away," one "went to his eternal reward," one "left here for a better place," and one "joined Jesus in heaven." When I die I want anybody who cares to read about it in the newspaper to know that I just plain died and that I did it without a clue to where I was going except up the chimney and that I would have been very much surprised if anything or anyone greeted me after the smoke settled. When what's left of me is stowed in that ash box the people who love me, if any are still around, can do with me what they want as long as they don't put me on the mantle, I'd die. – Joan Roesgen Joan (Danneker) Roesgen, born November 20, 1931, died Wednesday morning, July 31, 2013, in All Saints Medical Center after a series of falls and medical emergencies. She specifically requested in writing that there be no funeral, no memorial service, no burial – just cremation – her ashes to be scattered in her garden. She began her career in journalism while in college, working as a proofreader for the Sun-Gazette, and later as a reporter for the national weekly Grit in Williamsport, PA, her hometown. After college and marriage she worked with her editor-publisher husband Bill Roesgen for the next 20 years as a reporter and section editor at daily newspapers in Michigan, Vermont, Ohio, Tennessee and Montana. She wrote free-lance articles for newspapers in Billings and Helena, MT, then served as director of cooperative education for Rocky Mountain College and Eastern Montana State University. Working from home, she spent 10 years writing a weekly advice column for the national supermarket tabloid Globe under the title "Dear Sarah." She is survived by her husband Bill, two sets of twins, Richard and Susan and Andy and Ted (two of whom she photographed for a national magazine as they were being born), and one brother, Charles Danneker of Fairport, NY.