Joyce Elaine Rivers Harllee

1932 - 2022

Joyce Elaine Rivers Harllee slipped the surly bonds of this mortal life on July 1, 2022, rising above the afflictions that had bedeviled her final years. She was a wife, a mother, adoptive mother and especially a grandmother. Professionally she was more than that, a musician, music teacher, and music educator.

She met her beloved husband Bob when he visited his brother in Jacksonville, Florida. He was introduced to this unforgettable woman at her church. He was so enthralled that he often took the then eight-hour pre-interstate drive from Miami to visit his brother. His persistence paid off and they were married in September 1954. She transferred from her Florida State University to his University of Florida where they graduated together in 1956. This was not a rare thing for that time, but her hometown Jacksonville Journal thought it remarkable enough to print their graduation picture in the paper. If you understand Florida, for a Seminole to become a Florida Gator was a big deal especially when you know that they were both fourth-generation Floridians.

After college she embarked on a life as a preacher's wife. Bob attended Wake Forest Theological Seminary in Henderson, North Carolina where they made fast friends with three other seminarian couples that lasted all their lives. A preacher's wife is a strong presence in local churches and she worked as an equal partner to Bob's ministry. She plated the piano and organ and directed the choirs, an unpaid position that today would be afforded the title of Music Director.

Joyce took on another role, that of Army officer's wife. The role of wife and mother was then, and is now, a full-time job for women. An officer's wife added to that diplomat, travel agent and the fortitude to pack up and move a household every year or two. She would often say "I've moved thirty-two times in my life," which was likely an undercount. These included Miami, Florida (twice); Atlanta, Georgia; Fort Benning, Columbus, Georgia; North Carolina (twice); Fort Campbell in both Kentucky and Tennessee; Southern Illinois; Fort Hamilton, Brooklyn, New York; Fort Dix, New Jersey; Fort Irwin, California ("in the middle of the Mojave Desert" she loved to describe it); Jacksonville, Florida (twice); and Bleidorn Kaserne, Ansbach, Germany.

She was a wartime wife and mother. When Bob went to war in Korea and Vietnam it fell to her to parent three small children for an entire year each time. Army policy was that families could not remain in base housing when their husbands were at war. So she had to pack up the household yet again. Both times she moved to Miami to be near family. Germany, after the invasion of Czechoslovakia was under the threat of Soviet attack. Our family was directly in the path of that looming war. The Army's plan was for the wives to pack up the children and drive the three hours south to Switzerland as the men met the invaders to protect their fleeing families.

Joyce received a Masters of Music Education from Southern Illinois University in 1971. She was proud to have been a valued alto in the Atlanta Symphony Chorus under the direction of Robert Shaw and in particular to have performed at Carnegie Hall.

She often said, "Do you know what the best part of memories are? Making them." Her stories of them filled our lives, the memories we made together and the ones we only heard tell of. They will live on in our hearts and in the memories of those that come after. To live in the hearts we leave behind is not to die but to live forever. In her honor, we will keep on making memories and telling of those memories for as long as we remain in this mortal coil.

Left for us to treasure were three unpublished mystery novels: "A Glance of Death," "A Certain Slant of Light," and "Sand Castles" as well as many short stories.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Robert Charles Harllee and her daughter, Carol Denise Harllee. She was the last of her generation of siblings, preceded in death by Barbara Ann "Bobbie" Rivers Adams, William Cornelius "WC" Rivers, Kenneth Eugene "Gene" Rivers, and by only a month by Lenore "Sandy" Rivers Oliver. She is survived by her son, Robert William Harllee; daughter, Lynn Marie Harllee Bichajian; beloved grandaughters, Laura Elaine Bichajian and Amy Ruth Bichajian; as well as her "adopted" daughter, Angela Marie Taylor.

A memorial service was held Saturday, September 10, 2022, 2 p.m., at the Rock Chapel of the Church of Our Savior Episcopal , 1165 Rio Rd E, Charlottesville, VA 22901.