Joyce Marie Thane

1934 - 2024

Joyce Marie (Weiss) Thane,89, of McGregor, passed away on February 7th. Joyce was born April 28, 1934, to Ernest and Olga Weiss on Wasp Creek Farm near McGregor. She was baptized on June 10, 1934, at Peace Lutheran Church. She attended Church at Zion Lutheran in McGregor where she was confirmed in April 1948 by Pastor L. G. Hanneman. Joyce grew up in McGregor and graduated from McGregor High School in 1952. She was a member of the Bow Wow's, the school's drill team, and of the basketball team, on which she served a special role. Determined as she always was, she proudly remembered driving the team to each away game, as the principal had refused to provide the girls with a bus. She was also very active in Luther League, and it was through Luther League activities that she met who would be her future husband, Jerry Edwin Thane. They both attended Texas Lutheran College, where they began dating. Joyce majored in Elementary Education and Parish Work, and it was during this time that she traveled to San Francisco, serving as a Volunteer Parish Worker at the Lutheran Church of Our Savior. She graduated from Texas Lutheran College in 1956, and on June 29th, 1957, Joyce and Jerry were married at Zion Lutheran Church of McGregor. Joyce was a loving and faithful daughter, wife, mother, teacher, pastor's wife, friend, and grandmother. She followed her passion for reading and children through her work as a teacher. Joyce taught in several cities as she began teaching, but spent most of her career at T.H. Jenkins Elementary in McGregor. Joyce was the consummate pastor's wife. She and Jerry were helpmates to each other at Peace Lutheran Church in Woodsboro, St. Peter's Lutheran Church in Elgin, and at Zion in McGregor. Throughout her life she enjoyed gardening, helping Jerry on the farm, raising bottle calves, and reading books. She liked quilting and making book packs with her church family. She treasured the community that she lived in, and loved sharing many rich stories about McGregor's past. Joyce was a devoted grandmother to two granddaughters, Kaci and Camryn, for whom she was always a source of adventure, sewing costumes for them, picking homegrown peaches with them, taking them to the McGinley library, and teaching them to play her beloved player piano. Joyce was preceded in death by her parents Ernest and Olga, brother Roy, husband Jerry Thane, sister-in-law Leona Letz and husband David, and daughter-in-law Peggy Thane. Survivors include her children, Carolyn McClusky of San Antonio, John Mark Thane and wife Becky of Pflugerville, and David Thane of McGregor; grandchildren Kaci and Camryn Thane; and brother-in-law Leon Thane and wife Betty of San Angelo. The family is holding a visitation Friday evening from 6-8 pm at McGregor Zion Lutheran, and a service will be held at 11 am on Saturday at the same location. The family would like to thank her faithful friends who visited her throughout her final years