1927
Joyce
2014
Joyce Andersen
January 11, 1927 — September 11, 2014
Serenely, Joyce Elaine Steed Andersen passed from this life on Thursday, September 11, 2014. In her time of passing, she drew loved ones to her side and knit us together in bonds of love and service.
She was born on January 11, 1927 in Los Angeles, California to Annie Hortense Gordon and Blaine R Steed. As a beautiful teenager during WWII, she helped with war work, made lifelong friends, and wrote cheering notes to young servicemen, tucking in ardently requested glamour photos of herself (a by-product of her after school job at a photography studio).
At 19, she and her best friend Amelia visited San Francisco to buy clothes for their first semester as college girls at UCLA. During a successful attempt to avoid doing the dishes, Joyce met the love of her life, Mark Eldon Andersen. The dashing navy officer on shore leave fell for her immediately. They married on July 23, 1946 in the St. George, Utah Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and began creating a family together.
Eventually Joyce gave birth to six boys and one girl. In Monrovia, California, she cared for her rambunctious children, her parents, and her 95-year-old grandmother in a beloved home she called Sudden Valley. Mark's job as a sales engineer eventually caused a move to Bellevue, Washington, and later to Pleasanton, California. There Joyce created a home of refuge and beauty called Towering Oaks, and continued to hone her masterful mothering (and grandmothering) skills. Joyce and her husband served a full-time mission for the LDS church in Independence, Missouri. They finally moved to Provo, Utah, where she cared for Mark faithfully during his long final illness. Over her long life, she cuddled, cared, cooked, and cleaned for six generations, from her grandmother to her great-grandchildren.
Always elegant, even in the midst of mundane life-pressures, Joyce enjoyed entertaining, getting inside information on family happenings, arranging flowers, and hearing fine music. Outside, she was extraordinarily beautiful, and always well-dressed--when widowed, she attracted suitors even in her 80's. Inside she was caring, intelligent, tender, purposeful, and utterly dedicated to her family and church.
In death she is reunited with her beloved husband, Mark, and a son, Jeffrey, who died in infancy. She is survived by her brother Larry (Donna) and her six adult children: Steve (Kate) Provo, Utah; Eric (Catherine) Iowa City, Iowa; Brad (Kathleen) Littleton, Colorado; Dave (Mary Ann) Forest Grove, Oregon; Lisa (Dan) Provo, Utah, and Roger (Shauna) Alpine, Utah. She was enormously proud of her 27 grandchildren, and 36 great-grandchildren.
We thank her for endless pans of "spicy raisin bars", warm drinks and backrubs at bedtime, well-told scripture stories, high expectations, and tireless efforts to weave her friends and family into a tapestry of mutual affection.
Memorial Services will be held on September 20, 2014 at 10:30 a.m. at the LDS chapel at 1555 North 1350 West, Provo.
She was born on January 11, 1927 in Los Angeles, California to Annie Hortense Gordon and Blaine R Steed. As a beautiful teenager during WWII, she helped with war work, made lifelong friends, and wrote cheering notes to young servicemen, tucking in ardently requested glamour photos of herself (a by-product of her after school job at a photography studio).
At 19, she and her best friend Amelia visited San Francisco to buy clothes for their first semester as college girls at UCLA. During a successful attempt to avoid doing the dishes, Joyce met the love of her life, Mark Eldon Andersen. The dashing navy officer on shore leave fell for her immediately. They married on July 23, 1946 in the St. George, Utah Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and began creating a family together.
Eventually Joyce gave birth to six boys and one girl. In Monrovia, California, she cared for her rambunctious children, her parents, and her 95-year-old grandmother in a beloved home she called Sudden Valley. Mark's job as a sales engineer eventually caused a move to Bellevue, Washington, and later to Pleasanton, California. There Joyce created a home of refuge and beauty called Towering Oaks, and continued to hone her masterful mothering (and grandmothering) skills. Joyce and her husband served a full-time mission for the LDS church in Independence, Missouri. They finally moved to Provo, Utah, where she cared for Mark faithfully during his long final illness. Over her long life, she cuddled, cared, cooked, and cleaned for six generations, from her grandmother to her great-grandchildren.
Always elegant, even in the midst of mundane life-pressures, Joyce enjoyed entertaining, getting inside information on family happenings, arranging flowers, and hearing fine music. Outside, she was extraordinarily beautiful, and always well-dressed--when widowed, she attracted suitors even in her 80's. Inside she was caring, intelligent, tender, purposeful, and utterly dedicated to her family and church.
In death she is reunited with her beloved husband, Mark, and a son, Jeffrey, who died in infancy. She is survived by her brother Larry (Donna) and her six adult children: Steve (Kate) Provo, Utah; Eric (Catherine) Iowa City, Iowa; Brad (Kathleen) Littleton, Colorado; Dave (Mary Ann) Forest Grove, Oregon; Lisa (Dan) Provo, Utah, and Roger (Shauna) Alpine, Utah. She was enormously proud of her 27 grandchildren, and 36 great-grandchildren.
We thank her for endless pans of "spicy raisin bars", warm drinks and backrubs at bedtime, well-told scripture stories, high expectations, and tireless efforts to weave her friends and family into a tapestry of mutual affection.
Memorial Services will be held on September 20, 2014 at 10:30 a.m. at the LDS chapel at 1555 North 1350 West, Provo.
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Joyce Andersen, please visit our flower store.
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