JOYCE MEYER

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JOYCE MEYER Joyce Meyer passed away May 15, 2010 after a two-year struggle with declining health and is now in a more peaceful place. Joyce was born in Winnipeg, June 16, 1926 to Frank and Mildred Meyer, the only daughter, who was joined a year later by her brother Arthur Edwy Meyer. She had wonderful memories of her early life in Winnipeg but the great depression hit and her father was sent to Yorkton, SK to supervise a large number of grain elevators in a rural area. Joyce finished high school at Yorkton Collegiate Institute. She was artistic - a figure skater, a reader, a dancer, and a very beautiful young woman. Joyce was an adventurous spirit at a time when women were expected to stay home, marry and raise children. After training as a lab technician and working in hospitals in Yorkton and Winnipeg, her love of reading and writing emerged and led to a journalism course, followed by employment in the newsroom of The Winnipeg Tribune. She found this profession fulfilling and made friends that lasted all her life. Another of Joyce's great loves was Italy. Joyce lived in Rome during the 1960s working as a writer with FAO, the United Nations' Food and Agricultural Organization. She travelled to many developing countries to record FAO activities. Her love of Italy and her life there are set down in her book Recordi (Diary) which was published in 1982. Joyce was a humanitarian who supported many different charities. In particular she was very active with the Winnipeg chapter of Amnesty International and she spent many hours writing letters to governments around the world on behalf of Prisoners of Conscience. Joyce is remembered as an intelligent, interesting woman and her friends enjoyed the many delightful, long, lunches and dinner parties she hosted over the years. Joyce's life was celebrated at a small gathering of her friends in Winnipeg on May 30 and at the Winnipeg Press Club on June 23. Joyce will be remembered by her brother Arthur and his wife Vivi-Ann. She is also remembered by five nieces and nephews who enjoyed Aunty Juice's stories and provided her with 13 grand-nephews/nieces and one great-grand-nephew. Joyce donated her body to the University of Manitoba for medical purposes. If you wish to remember Joyce you may make a donation in her name to Amnesty International, 312 Laurier Avenue East, Ottawa, ON K1N 1H9 (http://www.amnesty.ca).

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Jul 03, 2010