Joan Lee Kerssenbrock was born on June 8, 1937 in Crete, Nebraska to George and Edith Doane Kersenbrock.  Her father was the postmaster and her mother was particularly noted for her beautiful singing voice.

Jody graduated from Crete High School in 1954 and attended Doane before receiving her BFA from Omaha University.  She attended graduate school at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ and the University of Munich Germany.  She proceeded to a classical concert career in New York City.  From 1962 until 1970, Jody sang professionally for live performances and album recordings.  As an alto she sang with the New York Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra under Leonard Bernstein.  She was part of cultural exchange tours with the US State Department including visits to South America and the Soviet Union with the Robert Shaw Chorale.  Composers and conductors with whom she worked also included Leopold Stokowski, Igor Stravinsky, Paul Hindemith and Charles Munch.  Jody performed for CBS, NBC and ABC in the 1960's.   Jody noted that she was chosen to sing the first performances of works by many composers including Leonard Bernstein, Alice Parker, Otto Luening, Thomas Wagner and Paul Hofreiter, her step son.

Jody sang at the funeral service for Robert F. Kennedy at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City on her 31 ^st birthday and also sang a solo recital at Lincoln Center in 1968.

In the 1970s, she worked in refugee resettlement in Philadelphia, moved to Massachusetts. She owned and operated the Hidden Brook bed and breakfast in Plainfield MA.  Kerssenbrock was a vocal coach for the Handel and Hadyn Society in Boston and served on the board for State's Arts Lottery Council.

With deep in Crete, Jody made plans to move back to Nebraska in the 1990s and purchased and restored the Otto Prucha property in Crete, saving it from the wrecking ball.  The historic Crete home featured a topiary garden filled with trimmed evergreen bushes in a variety of shapes, including a giraffe, dog, elephant, a horse and rider as well as geometric forms.  The garden also featured a Japanese Koi Pond with wooden arched bridge and two cages, one for a bear.  The gardens were featured in Life Magazine in 1947.

Jody finished her musical career as a coordinator of private musical instruction at Lawrenceville School in New Jersey.  During this time she wrote and performed The Ballad of Crete for the town's 125th birthday in 1996. She retired to Nebraska in 1999 and moved into the first floor apartment of the Rademacher-Kerssenbrock house in Crete.

Jody was proud of her heritage and noted her grandfather was the town constable who arrested Buffalo Bill Cody on January 1, 1889 for public drunkenness.  She was involved with the Doane Family Association with roots going back to Deacon John Doane who settled in Plymouth, Massachusetts between 1628-1632.  She served as regional vice president for DFA.

Jody was a member of the Crete Wednesday Club and the Trinity Memorial Episcopal Church.   She was a substitute teacher, volunteered for Nebraska Public Radio, and a board member of Saline County Habitat for Humanity.  She also volunteered at Blue Valley Community Action.  Jody took writing courses at Doane and had several historical stories published.  She created an endowed scholarship in her name at Doane University.  She was inducted into the Crete Public School Hall of Fame in 2016.

Jody is preceded in death by her husbands: Don Sabath and Harold Hofreiter, and stepchildren Donlyn Sabath, David, Paul and Mary Hofreiter, her parents George and Edith Kersenbrock and step mother Ethel, her older sister Janice Stone and her younger brother Paul.

She is survived by her sister-in-law Echo Easton and her husband Geoff of Crete; nieces Kim Mueller and her husband Rex of Papillion and their children Ryan and Leslie Mueller; niece Suzy Cochnar and her husband Jack of Dorchester and their children; Michael Cochnar and his wife Jessica (children Imogen, Ophelia & Marrs),Valerie, Alyssa and Nathan Cochnar; niece Cindy Kersenbrock of Lawrence, Kansas and her children, Elliot Bicker, Naomi and her spouse Gaby Bauman and Clara Bicker.

She is also survived by her niece Julie Stone Eberly and her husband Rev. Dr. Wayne Eberly of Houston, Texas and their four children Jake, Hayley, Carlee and Alex and their grandchildren Clara, Paul and Blake as well as many extended family members.

A Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, February 4, 2023 at 11:00 AM at First Evangelical Lutheran Church in Wilber, NE.  The service will be streamed via the church YouTube channel.  A service will also take place at the Wilber Care Center at 2:00 PM for staff and residents.

Memorial contributions may be made to First Evangelical Lutheran Church of Wilber and to the Wilber Care Center.  Please visit www.kunclfh.com .