Joyce Bynum

1927 - 2016

Joyce Palmer Bynum

Mar 3, 1927 - May 11, 2016

Joyce was born and raised in Brownwood, Texas with seven siblings. She is survived by her brother Richard Bynum (Kathleen Matthews); daughters Lisa Lethin (Ed Bacho) and Bonnie Ayers (Rich Ayers); three granddaughters; and five great-grandchildren.
In 1950 Joyce was sent by the U.S. State Department to Germany to work as a secretary. While there, she met and married Dr. (Capt.) Anton Lethin. In 1955 they moved to San Francisco where they raised their daughters. They divorced in 1971.
Joyce lived in San Francisco for over 40 years, pursuing interests in music, folklore and traveling. She played cello in the SF Recreation Symphony and sang with the SF Choral Society. After moving to Sunnyvale in 1996, she played chamber music and conducted the choir at the Sunnyvale Unitarian Universalist Fellowship.
Joyce received an M.A. in Folklore in 1971 from UC Berkeley under folklorist Alan Dundes. She taught classes in anthropology and folklore at SF State University and UC Berkeley Extension. She was Folklore Editor for ETCetera, the journal of the International Society for General Semantics, and is cited in the Dictionary of American Proverbs.
Joyce was employed at UCSF as a Management Services Officer, retiring in 1991. For the last eight years of her life, she lived in Salem, Oregon where she was a beloved member of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation.