Elaine Nancy Joyce

Born September 5, 1923 in Brockton, Massachusetts, Elaine was the oldest of four daughters born to George and Helen Harding.

Her education began in a one room schoolhouse in Holbrook near Springfield, MA, where her love for books and writing were fostered. She entered the US Army Nurse Corps during World War II and, as a lieutenant, was later stationed near San Francisco at Dibble Army Hospital. She met her husband of 68 years, Tom Joyce (d. 2015), a Navy pilot, in 1945 at the Picadilly Inn in Ayer, MA, where Tom’s now-famous line “Would the Army care to dance with the Navy?” eventually led to the two being married August 17, 1946, at Alameda Naval Air Station in California.

Having already attained an RN degree from Springfield Hospital, she attended San Jose State University on the GI Bill while having her first three children.

The family soon moved to San Lorenzo, where Elaine served as President of the National Association of Catholic Nurses, and three more children were born before the family then moved to Redwood City, CA in 1963. The last child was born there while Elaine worked as an Intensive Care Unit Supervisor at Sequoia Hospital.

In 1972, the family moved to Aptos, CA, where they lived for more than 20 years. Elaine worked as an ICU and Recovery Room nurse at Watsonville Community Hospital until her retirement in the 1990s.

After she and Tom retired, they spent two years traversing North America in a “Bounder,” an RV that took them through the Canadian Rockies and throughout the US. The two also traveled several times to Ireland, home of their ancestors, which included a trip in 1996 for their 50th wedding anniversary that saw 27 family and friends celebrate in Joyces’ Country, County Galway. They settled happily in Cazadero, CA for 17 years, and in 2007 they moved to their son’s “granny” unit just outside Freestone, CA.

They were long-time members of St Philip and St Teresa’s Catholic Churches in west Sonoma County.

Elaine was the quintessential Irish-Catholic caregiving mother of seven, grandmother of 11, and great-grandmother of six. Her family meant everything to her, with dozens of people “adopting” her and calling her “mom” despite having no blood ties, which she welcomed and relished. “Let all guests be received as Christ” was on the wall of every one of her homes, which she happily practiced with everyone she met.

Her generosity, warmth and gift for gab garnered her a wide diversity of friends, and a singing “career” started in her 90s gained her additional adoring fans.

Her “infamous” singing of “Tangerine” at numerous large family gatherings, and her singing the national anthem at SF Giants’ baseball games twice in 2017, at age 93, made it onto social media, as did several more videos featuring her buoyant energy and radiant smile.

She lived her Catholic faith through service to her parish and other charitable organizations, such as the AIDS ministry, reactivating her nursing license post-retirement to assist AIDS patients, and later serving more than 25 years with the Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Santa Rosa Rural Food program. She was predeceased by her twin sons, Patrick and Michael, sisters Claire, Ann and Carol, and husband, Tom. She is survived by children John, Maureen (Clark) Barber, Tif (Judy), Sheila (Bill) Kellerman, Teresa (Rick) Kooi, Veronica, and George; 11 grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.

Funeral Services will be held on Friday, August 6 at 11 a.m., at St. Philip’s Catholic Church in Occidental, CA.

All are welcome, but please be aware that due to Covid-19 the mass may be limited to family only; we highly recommend checking the Sonoma County website the morning of the gathering: https://socoemergency.org/emergency/ warnings-and-updates/ In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made in her name: Memorial Hospice, 439 College Ave, Santa Rosa, CA 95401, www.providence.org or Calvary Cemetery, PO Box 339, Occidental, CA 95465.