Joyce Marilyn (John) Hood, born Sept. 20, 1931, in Fairmount, Ind., went home to be with her Lord on Palm Sunday, April 5, 2020. She was 88 years old.
Joyce grew up through the Depression and World War II. She graduated from Fairmount High School, Fairmount, Ind., in 1949, with her classmate, James Dean. Joyce was first employed in the billing department at RCA, and later switched to secretarial work. She worked in a doctor’s office, then moved from Fairmount to Purdue University to work in the Agricultural Economic department as a secretary where she met Robert Wolfe Hood, who became her husband in 1956. She and Robert moved to Ithaca, where Robert was offered a position. They later moved, with their two small children, to Robert’s hometown of Walton, where she spent a good portion of her life.
Joyce stayed home to care for her children and her home for many years, sometimes taking babysitting jobs or temporary school employment to help out financially. In the early 1970s she began working as a secretary at Walton Central High School. A few years later, she began work at BOCES in Masonville, and then was finally employed as school secretary at Walton Elementary School, where she stayed for many years. She enjoyed her work, and said it kept her young. Joyce was very active in her church, the Free Methodist Church of Walton, now called New Hope Free Methodist Church. She taught Sunday School, played the piano, and cleaned the church or whatever was needed. In the mid-1990s, Joyce retired from school to take care of her mother-in-law, her own mother, and her disabled husband. She always said she only was able to do this through her practical and deeply spiritual faith in her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. She commented many times that it was only through His strength that she could carry out her tasks. After both her own mother and her mother-in-law died, she continued to care for her husband, Robert, with a cheerful spirit. They moved to Franklin in the early 2000s to be closer to their daughter, Ann and her children. Robert died in 2007. In 2014, her son Steven and wife Mary helped her move to Fort Collins, Colo., so that she could be near them and have their care. In 2016 she moved into Collinwood Assisted Living, then recently into its memory care unit. She was greatly loved there, as she was everywhere.
Joyce is survived by her brother Phillip John (Wanda), her son Dr. Steven J. Hood, of Fort Collins, Colo., his wife Mary (Sutula) Hood; and her daughter Ann M. (Hood) Finch-Lefebvre (Robert), of Radford, Va.; along with their children Dana W. Hood (Suzanne), Rhys Hood (Kelsey Whitehurst Gould); and Rachel (Finch) Beers (Tim), Anastasia Finch, and Emaline Finch; and great-grandchildren, Nathaniel, Elsa, and Eli Beers.
A memorial service will be decided upon later, as we navigate social distancing through this season.
