Ella Joyce Lange

LANGE: Ella Joyce. Joyce was born in Winfield, BC on January 15, 1932 to her parents Maurice and Mildred McCarthy. She was the second daughter in a family of three children. She had an older brother, who died as a baby. As a young girl Joyce enjoyed horseback riding and hiking with her cousins and her sister, Jesse. Two special hiking places of note were Spione Kop and Wrinkle Face which her home overlooked later in life. She was a hard worker. A few jobs she talked most about were working in the packing houses and orchards in the Okanagan, working in the hospital kitchen, and being a nurse’s aide in Quesnel.

One day Joyce was downtown in Kelowna with her cousin, when a few young men stopped to ask if they needed a ride. After speaking with them for a while she found out they worked for her father, so she accepted the ride. She secretly wished that she would be the one to sit beside the handsome driver. He turned out to be the love of her life, Adelhardt Lange, to whom she was married to for 73 years.

After they married on January 14, 1950, they moved to Quesnel. Eventually they purchased property on Scott Road where they built their home to raise their three daughters, Judie, Colleen, and Lucy. Audie and Joyce moved back to Winfield in the mid 1980s to retire.

Joyce loved being a Mother and Grandmother. She was known for being a trickster, often playing jokes on her family. We will all miss her infectious laugh, “Tehehehe.”

Gardening and cooking were continuous passions of hers throughout her life. Joyce had beautiful flower gardens and had a large vegetable garden, out of which she produced some of the most delicious meals for her family.

Music was another of her passions. Joyce and Audie would often spend hours playing their music together, Audie on his harmonica or mandolin and Joyce on her accordion.

Joyce was always busy doing something. Canning, knitting, crocheting, tatting, sewing, and quilting were just some of her hobbies. She loved to get out to the woods to pick berries and she always had a good sense of direction no matter where she was. At a moment’s notice, Joyce was happy to get the camper trailer ready to head out for an adventure, often cramming in grandchildren to join in for the fun.

Joyce was a beautiful, kind, thoughtful lady, and a fierce protector of those she loved. She is preceded in death by her husband Audie. She is survived by her three daughters; Judie (Stan), Colleen, Lucy, eight grandchildren, eleven great grandchildren, and two great great grandchildren.