Joycelyn Marie McClellen

Joyce, age 92, went to Our Lord at the Good Shepard Hospice Home with the blessings of her family. Joyce was born in the Territory of Hawaii on July 8, 1933. She was the child of Marie Sweet and Earl T. Jones, a Navy officer. She moved about for her younger years before settling in California.

She graduated with a bachelor’s degree California State College at San Jose then married her life’s partner John E. McClellen. Their first child, Gerald was born in 1956, followed by John Jr. in 1960, and Jeffrey in 1962. Their marriage would last 64 years. They bought their first house In Millbrae, Ca. in 1959. In 1965, moved to Moraga, Ca. where they would spend the next 54 years happily raising their boys.

Joyce was first and foremost a teacher, starting in elementary schools, before moving on to specializing in teaching reading skills for special needs students. She did this for more than thirty years and in the process earned her master’s degree, the first in the long history of her family.

Joyce retired from teaching 1995 to pursue her other passion, gardening. Joyce spent years cultivating, pruning, and planting in her garden until it was a jewel of the local garden society. Joyce was an active member for many years, even serving as a club officer several times.

In her other time, Joyce volunteered at the Lindsay Wildlife Center, sometimes reading to children groups visiting there. When not gardening or volunteering, Joyce enjoyed tennis, theater, and traveling including trips to Hawaii, the Philippines, and Europe.

When John, her husband, passed in 2019, Joyce made the decision to sell the Moraga home and moved to Salem, Oregon to live with her oldest son and his wife. She stayed with them, including when they moved to Lakeland, Florida to be near her granddaughter, Michelle and her four great-grandchildren.

Joyce passed at 10 o’clock on the 12 of June in Lakeland, Fl. She is survived by her three sons and their wives, three grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren. Her ashes will be interred with those of her husband at Oakmont Memorial Park, Lafayette, CA.

Once upon a time, my grandmother kept a rose garden. It was beautiful and full and followed a small path around the side of her home with my grandfather. She kept it meticulously and looked forward to every bloom. She would prune and nurture them, every bush and bud. She knew all their names. 🌹

Once upon a time, my grandmother collected cute things that made her smile. A wall full of beanie babies, each chosen by her, shared with grandchildren, housed tenderly in a hallway room with an old desk, scratchy carpeting and a thin wooden door. Fabric bunnies with floppy ears and sewn on smiles. Teddy bears dressed for her boys, displayed proudly in her favorite spots. 🐰

Once upon a time, my grandmother loved her cats. First was boots, later jimmy, and then her sweet Cindy. Each one doted upon by a sweet woman who once never imagined she’d have a pet. 🐱

Once upon a time, my grandmother volunteered at a nature center. Caring for the gift shop, checking on the animals, sharing fascinating facts with visitors. 🍃

Once upon a time my grandmother was in garden club, tennis, she wore cozy house slippers, she treasured her living room and its spotlessness. She loved Raisin Bran and scones and salmon. 👵🏽

In this time of goodbye. Of grief and great sorrow. Weighted by the finality of death. My mind wanders to innocuous memories of her. But of all the memories, more than those of any hobby or breakfast or fleeting moment in a life so rich. I want to remember that once upon a time my grandmother was a beautiful young woman. And once upon a time she fell in love with a handsome young baseball player and It was the deepest most enduring love she ever knew. His eventual passing marked her own final years with a certain emptiness that lingered silently. But with bittersweetness that is no more. For once upon a time my grandmother had her dear Johnny and now she does again. ❤️