Joyce C. Scovill

Joyce C. Scovill of Eugene, Oregon passed away peacefully on August 20th, 2025, surrounded by her loving son and daughter-in-law.

Born on April 24th, 1941, in Joplin, Missouri, USA, to John and Elsie Cooper, she was the oldest of three sisters and four brothers. Her lifelong passion for caregiving took hold when she was hired as an LPN at Osawatomie State Hospital shortly after graduating from Fontana High School in 1959. In 1972, she graduated as an RN from Missouri Baptist Hospital School of Nursing in St. Louis, MO with honors at the top of her class. From there, her career in healthcare accelerated dramatically at St. John’s Mercy Hospital in St. Louis, where she helped found and execute paramedic education and training. In 1980, she and her husband Eldon made the decision to leave St. Louis and return to Parker, Kansas. There she and younger sister Virginia identified a need for day care in the growing community. They formed their own day care center called “Love and Kids Only” and immediately filled a sizeable community need. Her passion for caregiving then took her to Lakemary Center in 1995 to oversee care for the disabled until her departure in 2002 when she moved to Arizona. She concluded her career with Hospice of the Valley in Phoenix, AZ in 2015. Joyce enjoyed a robust and significant professional nursing career that spanned nearly 50 years.

In 1957, Joyce Cooper married Eldon L. Scovill and began her cherished role as a wife of some 39 years. Joyce was an extremely devoted wife to Eldon and mother to her only son, Robert. She was a wonderful grandmother to her three grandchildren, Carly, Ethan, and Jackson, and deeply loved her entire family and her many friends. She and Eldon treasured and were deeply attached to the rural lifestyle common to the farming communities of Kansas while residing in Parker on their farm for over 20 years.

She is survived by her youngest brother, Michael Cooper (Janet), and her two sisters, Virginia Russell and Kathy Lehman (Clifton), her son, Robert Scovill (Mary Jo), and three grandchildren. Joyce was preceded in death by her parents, John and Elsie Cooper, her husband, Eldon, and her brothers Wayne (Jan), Donald (Pat), and Bud (Carol) Cooper.

A memorial service will be held for Joyce on Friday August 29th, 2025, at Eddy-Birchard’s Funeral Home, 203 Main Street Osawatomie, KS, 66064 at 6:00 PM. In lieu of flowers, Joyce and the family have respectfully requested donations in the name of Joyce C. Scovill to the following organizations.

MHA Mental Health America www.mhanational.org/donate

or

NAMI National Alliance on Mental Illness www.NAMI.org/give