Service held for Anita Joyce Johnson
Anita Joyce Johnson, “Joyce”, ran into the arms of the Lord Jesus on Tuesday, November 12, 2019. She will be very much missed and remembered by her family.
Joyce was born to Thomas Bowman and Minnie Etta (White) Upchurch in Lamar, Oklahoma on February 5, 1926, and spent her entire childhood and adolescent years in Lamar. She was the youngest of four children. On March 3, 1950, she married Hubert Wylie Johnson in Hobbs, New Mexico. Hugh and Joyce had two daughters, Anita Diane and Annette Denise.
As the wife of an oil company employee,
Joyce made a house into a home for her family, first in Hobbs and later in the Midland-Odessa, Texas area. Joyce was a stay-at-home mom until her youngest reached the eighth grade and then she went to Business School and thus began her career. She worked for an oil company in Midland until Hugh was transferred to Houston. During their years in Houston, she worked as an office manager for a State Farm agent.
The years spent in Houston as empty-nesters were certainly a highlight of their lives. They loved their large church there and made such great friends. Hugh and Joyce bought their first RV while living in Houston, and after retirement, sold their Houston home and traveled throughout the United States for five years in their RV, eventually settling in Russellville, Arkansas. After Hugh passed away in 2000, Joyce moved to Greeley, Colorado, so that she could be closer to one of her daughters as she faced the challenges of aging.
The essence of Joyce was her music. She could play the piano by ear or by site-reading, and played for many church services, cantatas and choir specials, over all of her life in every town she ever lived in. Even as recently as three weeks ago, she played the piano at the urging of her caregiver at Grace Pointe.
There was never any doubt that Joyce loved her family with all of her heart and especially her daughters and grandchildren. She will be remembered as a mother who loved unconditionally and was always there to support and encourage.
Joyce is survived by her two daughters and their husbands, Anita and Scott Wetherhold and Annette and Ken Mowery; by her six beloved grandchildren, Brandon Michael Trutna and wife Andie, Chad Derrick Trutna and wife Tiffany, Matthew Blaine East, Travis Ryan Ensminger, Jonathan Tyler Mowery and wife Kelsey, and Tara Joy Mowery; and by her two beloved great grandchildren, Bryan and Joshua Trutna.
She was preceded in death by her parents, her two sisters Thelma Curtis Tate and Alta Jewel Upchurch and her brother Burnis Upchurch.
A huge thank-you to the staff at Grace Pointe for all of their kindnesses to Joyce and her family.
Life Celebration was 4:00 p.m. Monday, November 18th , followed by dinner at Adamson Life Celebration Home. She will be interred in her family’s plot at Lamar Cemetery in Lamar, on Wednesday, November 20th , at 11:00 AM.
Memorial gifts may be made to “Alzheimer’s Association” in care of Adamson, 2000 47th Ave., Greeley, CO 80634. Friends may leave condolences at AdamsonCares.com.