Joyce Kranzler

Joy Kranzler, formerly Joyce Evelyn Hacker, was born February 17, 1949, in El Dorado, Kansas to Warren Arthur Hacker and Valeta Evelyn Butler Hacker. Joy’s mother Valeta died in June of 1950 at age 23. Joy graduated from high school in Plentywood, Montana, and continued her education at Dawson Community College in Glendive, Montana and Montana State University, Billings (formerly Eastern Montana College), graduating with an Associate of Arts degree in Criminal Justice.

While attending college, Joy discovered a love of radio when she worked as a DJ for an FM radio station in Billings. After college, Joy returned to Plentywood, where she worked as a DJ at KATQ, eventually becoming the station manager and owner in the late 1980s. When she took over, the station was struggling with longstanding debts and deteriorating infrastructure. Joy poured her energy into keeping KATQ alive, repairing transmitters and other broadcasting equipment herself. In 1991, as the station faced bankruptcy, Joy spearheaded a community telethon to save the station. The community donated over $142,000 dollars—enough to keep the station on the air. Thanks to her tenacity and the support she inspired in the community, KATQ is still broadcasting today in Eastern Montana.

During her time in radio, Joy was runner-up for Favorite Morning DJ, a statewide contest run by the Billings Gazette, and she was nominated for several broadcast journalism awards. She also organized music festivals and booked many prominent country musicians to perform across Northeastern Montana.

Following her radio days, Joy continued to serve her community as an EMT and 911 dispatcher in Sheridan County for many years. While working as an EMT, Joy met her husband, Delwin Kranzler, whom she married in 1999. Around that same time, she started a massage therapy business, and she and Del took in exchange students from Tajikistan. One of their students, Firdavs Temirov, came to them missing a leg and was fitted with a poorly made prosthesis in his home country. Joy worked with medical staff in Billings to have a new, state-of-the-art prosthetic leg made for him—a story that was featured in the Billings Gazette. Later, Joy served as a hospice volunteer.

Joy loved animals, especially horses, and was an experienced trainer and rider. In their retirement years, Joy and Del raised Paso Fino horses and mules. They moved to Brady, Montana, where they continued to raise horses and mules, but now with a view of the Rocky Mountain Front just beyond the barn. Joy also enjoyed traveling, especially to England, where she developed lifelong friends.

Joy passed away peacefully at home with her husband and her loving dog, Moo, at her side.

Joy was preceded in death by her mother, father, and two sisters, Kelly Hacker and Linda Knick. She is survived by her husband, Delwin Kranzler, of Brady, Montana; sisters Dixie Hurley of Williston, North Dakota and Wendy DuMond of Clarkston, Georgia; brothers Stephen Hacker of Okmulgee, Oklahoma, Patrick Hemphill of Spring Creek, Pennsylvania and Timothy Hemphill of Rock Springs, Wyoming; and her nibling Avery Speer-Mead of Spokane, Washington (Abbie Speer).

A memorial service for Joy is being planned in the spring near Fort Benton, Montana. Her ashes will be interred with her mother, Valeta Evelyn Hacker, in El Dorado, Kansas.