Joy M Ibsen

Joy Ibsen lives in sunny urban Albuquerque, New Mexico, after moving in 2018 from Michigan's Upper Peninsula where she and her husband, Don Lenef lived on the shores of Lake Superior next to the Porcupine Mountain State Park. They previously lived in Trout Creek, Michigan and Evanston, Illinois. The couple have five children and five grandchildren between them.

Joy Has six published books: Here and Hereafter, the Eternity Connection, First and Second Editions; Songs of Denmark; Songs to Live by; Poetry of the Porkies; Unafraid, Life Lessons: Sermons to live By and Tales of Listeners Learning to Live Unafraid, co-authored by her father, Harald Ibsen; and now Unafraid, Second Edition, Pew, Parables and Pandemic with 12 new chapters set in 2020-2021.

Growing up in Danish American communities in Minnesota, Iowa, and South Dakota, Joy has a passion for the work of N.F.S. Grundtvig, the Danish theologian, politician, educator, poet and hymn writer, now recognized as a nation-builder. She was editor for the only Grundtvigian journal in the United States, "Church and Life," for fourteen years, ending in December, 2019. In 2013 Joy spent two months in Denmark studying Grundtvig's current relevance to modern life by interviewing thirty-two Danish citizens.

She graduated from high school in Viborg, South Dakota; attended Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa, graduated from Shimer College, then in Mount Carroll, Illinois; and pursued graduate studies at the University of Chicago Divinity School, where she had two classes with theologian Paul Tillich. She has a certificate in Lay Ministry from the School of Theology, University of the South.

Her varied career includes serving a caseworker for public aid recipients in Chicago's Woodlawn ghetto; teaching GED to Vietnam-bound soldiers at Fifth Arm Headquarters, Chicago; teaching English literature and theater performance to students at St.Katherine's/St Mark's preparatory school in Davenport, Iowa; as chief planner for the Model Cities Program in Rock Island; and fundraising and management consulting for community, education and art organizations. She headed development offices at Mount Sinai, Bethany Methodist, and Swedish Covenant hospitals in Chicago. In the Upper Peninsula, she taught piano lessons and served as church organist.