Joyce Marie Boyd, Sterling
1927 - 2008

Joyce Marie Boyd, 80, passed away quietly Saturday morning, July 19, 2008, at her home in Sterling after a brief illness. Visitation will be held from 2 to 6 p.m. Thursday, July 24, at Chaney-Reager Funeral Home, 443 S. Second St., Sterling, with visit with the family from 6 to 8:30 p.m.; and one hour prior to services Friday at Trinity Lutheran Church. Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Friday, July 25, at Trinity Lutheran Church, 732 Clark St. (Clark and Seventh Avenue) in Sterling. Interment will be at Riverside Cemetery.
Joyce was born Aug. 10, 1927, in Garden City, Kan., to Alfred Louis and Maude Ethel (Oldfather) Becker; the fourth of 11 children. She was educated in Garden City schools and graduated from Garden City High School in 1945, where she met and later married Raymond Gerald Boyd. She took coursework in business at the community college during her senior year.
Upon graduating from high school, Joyce spent one year living in Wenatchee, Wash., where she worked as a telephone operator on the Air Force base. During this period, she also worked as a model for several stores and was selected as the Apple Festival queen.
Raymond and Joyce were married March 23, 1947, in Garden City. They raised three children and celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary March 23, 1997. Raymond passed away Oct. 14, 1999.
Raymond and Joyce began their career in agriculture in Genoa in 1947. They owned farms in Wellington, Holyoke and Wray and retired from farming in 1986. During this period, Joyce owned and operated Glover's Steak House in Holyoke and later managed two others.
Joyce was a faithful member of the Lutheran Church for almost five decades, served in the presidency of the Lutheran Ladies Aid in Wellington, and taught youth Sunday School classes for many years. She was a devoted and able student of scripture. In the 1970s, she worked with religious groups in Colorado to persuade legislators to prohibit abortion.
Joyce initiated a college fund to assist Lutheran students in their pursuit of higher education; she worked to build this fund and provided funds to purchase Bibles for the Sunday School.
Joyce is survived by her daughter, Sandra Jackson of Sterling; two sons, Dean and wife Marsha of Bowling Green, Ky., and Randy and wife Lisa of Holyoke; eight grandchildren; 14 great-grandchildren; one great-great-grandchild; three brothers, Gene, Alford and Danny; and one sister, Janet.
In lieu of flowers, memorials can be made to the Trinity Lutheran Educational Scholarship Fund of the Sterling Trinity Lutheran Church.