Private burial service was held at Sorden Cemetery, Webster, Iowa, for former Oelwein resident
Joanne (Sorden) Eschbach. She died June 8, 2022, in Marion, IN, at age 93.
Mrs. Eschbach was a former English and journalism teacher at Oelwein Senior High School, and
worked at the Oelwein Daily Register, where her husband, Ernest E. Eschbach, was managing editor. She
was a past president of Oelwein Women's Club and organized AAUW Chapter in Oelwein.
The Eschbachs purchased the News-Journal, North Manchester, IN, in October, 1966.
Mrs. Eschbach was born April 20, 1929 near Webster, Iowa, to Glen H. and Ferne (Heaton)
Sorden. Mrs. Eschbach moved to Winter Haven, Fla. in 1997 and to her daughter's home in Indiana in
2013.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Ernest, who died in 1989; son, Spencer Max, who
died in August 1977; parents, two brothers and two sisters.
Survivors include her daughter, Mrs. David (Cynthia) Payne of Jonesboro, IN, who was formerly
an executive editor and publisher for a group of newspapers in Indiana owned by Community Media
Group, which also owns the ODR; granddaughters, Annette (Payne) Hoyt of Halifax, Nova Scotia,
Canada, and Lynnette (Lynne Payne)