Thursday, June 19, 2008

Mom's Obituary

Mom 001


Joycelyn Ward
April 23, 1942 – June 15, 2008

We mourn the loss of Lilith Joycelyn Ward. She leaves behind her daughter, Julie, her son, Richard, her brother, Forrest, her sister Lori, her mother, Virginia, her Aunt Florence, and her many nieces and nephews, and their children. And of course, she was Maya’s Granny.

Joycelyn was born in Oakland, CA, and moved a great deal in her lifetime. She lived in California for much of her life, most recently in Sacramento and Citrus Heights, but also spent many years in Stockton and Berkeley. She lived in Juneau, Alaska from 1993 until February of this year.

She devoted much of her life to helping children, from her early days as a Montessori teacher, to her days teaching parenting classes and working one-on-one to help parents who were at risk of losing their children. She also worked as a volunteer coordinator, as a research analyst, as a secretary, and at an organization working to prevent teen alcoholism.

She was a voracious reader, loved to write and tell stories, and found great joy and satisfaction in her blog, Maya's Granny.

Her wisdom and wicked humor will be greatly missed.

Donations can be made in her memory to her favorite charity, Heifer International.

(This obit ran today in the Stockton Record, sans picture. A slightly shorter version ran in the Sacramento Bee, and Richard ran one in the Juneau Empire as well.)

12 comments:

Susan B said...

Thanks for posting this, Julie. That's a lovely picture of her.

lilalia said...

Thank you for the post. My continued condolences to you and your family. I haven't been able to post on my blog since your wrote about your dear mother's death. Though, I suspect she would want all of us to write big and loud. She was one great human being.

Anonymous said...

Farewell Joycelyn with a 'Joy' thank-you for your kind words and advice.

Chancy said...

Lovely photo and rememberance.

We will all miss her.

Janet

Tracy said...

I'm so glad this blog will be here for us to come back and visit when we want to.

J, your mom was definitely thinking ahead when she started writing this blog--she wanted her stories to live on for Maya!

She also visited my blog and occasionally left me the most encouraging and compassionate comments.

Maya's Granny, thank you! I miss you!

Joy Des Jardins said...

What a wonderful picture of your mom Julie. I use to kid your mom in e-mails about our little secret connection.....because my name is Joyce Lynn. She was such a beautiful person with a zest for life and a pure heart. She will truly be missed by her blogging buddies. Thank you Joycelyn for your beautiful and humorous words and for sharing yourself with us.....Peace always ~Joy

Jill said...

I'm shocked and sad. I've long missed the wisdom of Maya's Granny in her comments at my blog. My condolences to the family, and I hope you all know just how much she touched our lives, even in cyberspace. I'll miss her.

kenju said...

What a lovely photo. I will miss her visits and astute (and sometimes humorous) comments. Thank you so much for posting in the last 3 months or so, Julie. We all appreciate your attention here.

Tabor said...

I am so sorry for your loss. I know that everyone tried hard to make her last days peaceful and I think your dream certainly is telling in how our mother left this earth. Thank you for helping those of us far away to share in this passage. A lovely photo of her.

kerrdelune said...

Oh how I shall miss her, and my heart goes out to all of you.

Kaari said...

I didn't know! I found this blog last winter when I was wishing I could move back to Juneau and it was wonderful to read from someone who was there. I am so sorry for your loss.

El_GrAn_KoLoKoN said...

My condolences. I just came across this blog and found it very inspirational. Then I went to read the most recent posts and found that the lady has passed away. I wish her the best wherever she is now. I wish her a safe journey with the wind on her back to rest on God´s hands.