Joyce West

Joyce Francis West, 98, went joyfully into the arms of her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on January 20, 2026 in Mesa, Arizona. Born on July 26, 1927, Joyce spent nearly a century bringing light, color, and warmth into the world. Just like her favorite color, yellow, she was bright, optimistic, spirited, and wonderfully social. She had a ready laugh, a quick wit, and a genuine love for people that made it easy for her to form friendships wherever she went.

Joyce grew up in Michigan and, after finishing school, began a life of adventure that would take her across the country and across the ocean. From Michigan she moved to Texas, then to Arizona at age nineteen, where she worked as a Harvey Girl hostess at the Bright Angel Lodge on the rim of the Grand Canyon. She later moved to Chicago, where she worked in hospitality and discovered her lifelong love of sewing from a friend's mother. Throughout her life Joyce was always beautifully dressed; she sewed many of her own outfits and later many for her children, spending evenings at her sewing machine with music playing and a cup of coffee nearby.

From Chicago she moved to Florida where she once again worked in hospitality-this time beside the ocean she loved so dearly. Not long after, a friend convinced her to do something few young women dared in the mid-1950s: fly across the Pacific to Honolulu, Hawaii. She agreed, and it proved life-changing. In Honolulu she met and married George West, a well-known promoter and DJ. Although their marriage eventually ended in divorce, her eyes still sparkled decades later when she spoke of how they met, the music scene of the era, and the television and radio personalities they befriended. Joyce was in her element-stylish, social, and unafraid.

After Hawaii the young family spent time in Missouri, where her daughter Elaine was born, and then moved to California where her son Andy was born. Some of her children's earliest-if sandy-memories were of days at the beach, chasing waves and eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, Fritos, and 7-Up. Though she was a devoted mother, Joyce never stopped exploring and never stopped bringing her children along for the ride. Travel was simply part of who she was.

As a divorced woman in the 1970s, a time when social norms were less forgiving, Joyce faced life head-on with resilience and a steady confidence. She moved back to Michigan to be near family, found work, raised her children, and ensured they never went without. She also continued to travel, including annual trips to Arizona. In the 1980s the cold finally lost its battle, and Joyce moved permanently to Arizona where she would spend the rest of her life.

Joyce was a woman of deep and unwavering Christian faith. Her children remember waking up as youngsters to see her on her knees beside her bed in prayer. She never doubted her salvation and looked forward to the day she would meet her Savior. John 3:16 was dear to her, and she carried its promise with certainty throughout her long life.

Her faith led her into the mission field later in life. At age 65, after retiring from Citibank, Joyce joined the Christian nonprofit Operation Mobilization (OM). She served aboard the ministry's Logos 2 book ship throughout the 1990s, traveling to Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Europe. She worked in the kitchen, in the bookstore, and-true to form-eventually in the ship's snack shop, where her hospitality background shined. At age 79 she returned to volunteer on OM's next ship project and spent a year and a half in Croatia working in the galley. She celebrated her 80th birthday on board with a cake prepared by the ship's pastry chef, surrounded by crew from around the world.

Joyce attributed her longevity in part to staying fit. Her children remember her exercising to Jack LaLanne on television, running community 5K and 10K races into her 70s, and later switching to kickboxing and Pilates. Even into her 90s she exercised every morning. When standing became difficult she simply adapted, doing her Pilates in bed-once remarking that exercise had "kept her alive this long." She swam for health, sat outside with her coffee and Bible almost daily, and soaked in the Arizona sun whenever she could. Determination was one of her defining traits.

Joyce's love of travel, adventure, and curiosity lives on in her children and grandchildren, many of whom have crossed borders and oceans with the same sense of wonder she never lost. She was a caring and giving person who loved being with her family. She delighted in holidays, in ordinary days, in conversation, in laughter, and in simply being together.

Joyce was preceded in death by her parents Elsie and Elmer Francis; her sisters Roberta "Tootsie," Christopher, and Laurel "Snookie"; and her former husband, George West.

She is survived by her children, Elaine Norton and Andy West; eight grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren, as well as nieces, nephews, and dear friends across the country and around the world. She will be deeply missed and joyfully remembered.