Joyce Elizabeth Jacob Tintjer

Joyce Elizabeth Jacob Tintjer, a longtime resident of the Eclectic community, passed away peacefully on March 4, 2026, at the age of 86. Born on May 24, 1939, in Baxter, Iowa, she was the daughter of John Jacob and Renetta Marie Fricke Jacob.

After graduating from Melbourne High School in Melbourne, Iowa, Joyce attended Iowa State Teachers College in Cedar Falls until her marriage in 1958. On a small farm near Zearing, Iowa, she devoted herself to raising her young family while sewing clothes, tending a large garden, preserving food, and caring for chickens and cows. She also worked various farm-related jobs, including selling seed corn, walking soybeans, and detasseling corn. Later, after settling near Eclectic, Alabama, she channeled her entrepreneurial spirit into founding Carpet Care by Joyce. She was also skilled in carpentry and helped build her own home.

Joyce had a lifelong love of writing and was published in several magazines, including Ladies Home Journal, Grit, and Reader’s Digest. She enjoyed reading, playing board and card games with her family—especially Scrabble, Yahtzee, Grand Master Mind, and Pinochle—and knitting. She created many beautiful afghans for loved ones and lovingly knitted baby clothes for her grandchildren, as well as mermaid tails for her granddaughter, great-granddaughter, and their friends. An avid traveler, she visited Europe, explored the United States, and took a cruise, while always staying connected through frequent long-distance calls with family and friends.

She is survived by her children, Tammy Tintjer, Mark Tintjer (Loralyn), Becky Freeman (Douglas), and Carol Grimsley (Eric), along with ten grandchildren and one great-grandchild. She was preceded in death by her parents, John and Renetta Jacob, her husband Wallace Gene Tintjer, and her siblings Carl Jacob (Irene), Ernest Jacob (Darlene), Marie Dreifke (Carl), Doris Schnur (Earl), and Betty Benson (Ronald).