JOYCE LORRAINE CHRISTIANSON

“Tis very sweet to look into the fair and open face of heaven” – John Keats

Joyce Lorraine Christianson died peacefully, with family by her side, on Wednesday, August 19 in Mount Vernon, of congestive heart failure, at the age of 91.

She was born December 15, 1923 in Atlanta, Georgia to Ben and Rowena Odom.

Joyce was a wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, elementary school teacher and lifelong adventurer.

She graduated from the University of Georgia, where she was a member of Pi Beta Phi Sorority and received her masters degree from Oglethorpe University in preparation for her teaching career. Her first teaching job took her to a sugar plantation in Hilo, Territory of Hawaii in 1948. She moved to Seattle in 1949 to teach kindergarten and first grade at McDonald School near Greenlake.

Joyce joined a Christian singles group, the Campbell Club, at University Christian Church, where she met her future husband, Lyle Christianson, also a Seattle school teacher. They married on March 28, 1953. In 1960, they settled their growing family in the Maple Leaf neighborhood in North Seattle. Lyle passed away of cancer in 1972.

Joyce was very proud of the four wonderful children they had together, always encouraging them throughout their lives. She was always the loudest supporter in the stands for their school sports, and her school teacher voice carried for blocks at dinner time: “diiiinner!” And she never lost her soft southern accent, even after 66 years in the Pacific Northwest.

After Lyle’s death, Joyce renewed her teaching career, retiring from University Heights Elementary in 1987. Joyce never remarried. How do you follow the husband who wrote to her “You are the most wonderful person I know, or have known; The loveliest to gaze on, The most enjoyable to be with, The most perfect to love.”?

Joyce was a lifelong adventurer, teaching English in China, traveling to Israel, Russia, South America, Turkey, and Europe. She loved to dance and was a master at playing bridge, her favorite pastime up to the end of her life. She will be missed by her bridge-playing friends, but now they will have a chance to win!

She moved to La Conner three years ago to be near family, where she helped her son’s business, Christianson’s Nursery, for over 20 years. Her boundless energy and enthusiasm for life will be missed by all who knew her. Joyce’s life was filled with so many changes, growing up on Peachtree Hills Avenue in the segregated south and living long enough to see Barack Obama as president, watching silent movies, growing up during the Great Depression, reaching adulthood in World War II, and having a president from Georgia, Jimmy Carter — the first Democrat she voted for! Oh! What a life!

Joyce is survived by her younger sister, Jacqueline Nelson, brother-in-law Glen Christianson, sister-in-law Marge Christianson, and her children: Judy Christianson (Ann), Carl Christianson (Kim), John Christianson (Toni), and Karen Christianson (Heidi); grandchildren James Christianson (Rhiannan), Ann Feaster (Bill), Daniel Marty, Allyson McCormick (Bryan), Emma Christianson and great-grandchildren, nieces, nephews and dear friends.

Joyce was a member of the University Presbyterian Church for over 50 years. Upon moving to La Conner, she joined the La Conner United Methodist Church. She was certain in her belief in God and Jesus Christ as her Savior. She loved her church family. She did not fear death and was certain of her place in heaven.

A celebration of Joyce’s life will be held at La Conner United Methodist Church, 601 S. 2nd St., on Sunday, Sept. 20 at 2:30 p.m., with a reception at Christianson’s Nursery Schoolhouse, 15806 Best Rd., Mount Vernon, at 4 p.m.

Memorial donations may be made to La Conner United Methodist Church or KCTS 9 Public Television.

We would like to thank The Bridge at Mount Vernon for their compassionate care in Joyce’s final weeks.

Joyce’s final resting place will be with her husband at Evergreen-Washelli in Seattle.