Obituary of Julene Vineta Joyce

Julene Vineta Joyce (Healy) passed away September 4th, 2016 after a six year battle with ovarian cancer. She passed away under the care of her two daughters Megan Glidewell and Brittany Joyce, and sister Judy Erickson, at Megan's home in Waconia, MN. Though much of Julene's journey with cancer was difficult, she believed that God would not give her more than she could bear, and she passed in peace to her heavenly home while holding her daughters' hands. She was 61 years old. Julene was born on January 14th, 1955 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to her mother, Victoria, and father, Ellwyn Healy. Julene lived most of her early life in Ethiopia at Bingham Academy, a boarding school for missionary children. While traveling back and forth from Ethiopia to the US when she was young, she also visited England, Italy, Jordan, Egypt, Greece, the Netherlands, Yemen, Djibouti, and Eritrea before returning to the US permanently in 1966. She loved Ethiopia and her travels and had many memories of her time abroad. Julene graduated from Spring Lake Park High School in 1973 and was a member of the National Honor Society. After high school, she worked as a nurse's aide, in sales for insurance and home goods, and as a machine operator. It was in her position as a machine operator at Quality Park that she met, and later married, James Joyce in 1975. The two remained married until 2002. Though Julene's work, and work ethic, was important to her, the job that she felt was most important was that of mother and caregiver. She gave birth to Megan in 1980 and Brittany in 1985. She often described them, and her grandson, Edison (Megan's son), as being the lights of her life, and she treasured the close relationships she had with both daughters. Julene also acted as the primary caregiver for her mother and father while they lived in assisted living and skilled nursing facilities, where she also became friends with many members of the nursing staff and facility residents. It was in her roles as mother and caregiver that Julene seemed to find her life's calling. Julene also deeply cherished all of the time she was able to spend with her sisters and brothers. Once she settled in the US permanently, she made frequent trips to visit her brothers and sisters living in other parts of the US. Her last adventure was this past March, when Judy and her husband Claude traveled with Julene to Marathon Key, FL, to visit their brother, Jerry Healy, and his wife, Kathy. Spending time on the beach, getting manicures with her sisters, and watching the beautiful sunsets were some of Julene's favorite memories from that trip. Julene is survived by her two daughters Megan Alyssa Joyce Glidewell (husband Robert and grandson Edison) of Waconia, MN, and Brittany Amber Joyce (Adam Jorgensen) of Rogers, MN. Also are her nine brothers and sisters Jim (Nancy) of Lakewood, CO, Joy (David) Lhotka of Blaine, MN, John (Vicki) Healy of Mitchell, SD, Judith (Claude) Erickson of Embarrass, MN, Jerry (Kathy) Healy of Abell, MD, Jonathan (Diane) Healy of Hibbing, MN, Joseph (Cheryl) of Coon Rapids, MN, Judson (Gail) of Chandler, AZ, and Jewel Wolf of Shiloh, IL. She was also survived by many many aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, great-nieces, great-nephews and other extended family members, including her best friend, Linda Hovan, whom Julene considered family. Julene is preceded in death by her parents, Victoria and Ellwyn Healy. A memorial service for Julene will be held on Saturday, September 10th, 2016 at 2pm at Word of Life Alliance Church, 10730 University Ave. NW, Coon Rapids, MN 55448. Memorial donations may be made to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund at http://www.ocrf.org/donatenow. The family wishes to extend our sincere gratitude to Julene's doctors and their staff at Minnesota Oncology, the Virginia Piper Cancer Institute, Nystrom & Associates, and Allina Clinic in Coon Rapids for all the wonderful care they gave her throughout her life and her cancer journey. Without your help, we would not have the six wonderful extra years that we did with Julene. We also wish to thank Judy and Claude Erickson for all of their medical guidance and assistance in securing services for Julene over the years. Lastly, we are incredibly thankful to our Allina hospice teams out of Coon Rapids and Hutchinson. Without your advocacy, flexibility, kind words, patience, knowledge, guidance and support, we would not have been able to provide the kind of experience that we wanted for Julene in her final days. Your support not only allowed Julene to pass in the best way possible, but made all of us who were able to contribute in her final days better people as a result of our participation. We are forever in debt to you.