Joyce Urbaniak

“Give me a problem and I’ll hand you a solution.” Those who knew Joyce Urbaniak would agree that that motto accurately described her. Joyce was a woman of great drive and a very original, independent thinker. For Joyce, no challenge was impossible, and just about any desired result was within her grasp. Joyce placed great trust in her intuition. Since that intuition generally led her in the right direction, who was she to doubt it.

      Joyce was born on June 30, 1948 at Lloydminster Hospital in Lloyminster Saskatchewan Canada. She was the daughter of Daniel + Louise Tverdeay. Her childhood found her in Lloyminster Saskatchewan where she matured into the independent person she eventually became.

      Joyce grew up with Four siblings. She had one older sister Shirley and two younger sisters, Debbie and Terri, and one younger brother Ricky. Joyce could be seen as being stubborn by her siblings. It was important to her that she was perceived as “right” when it came to her part in those typical family spats. However, this quality did not over power her caring for her family. This ability to balance her family, with her need to be seen as right, helped her to develop into a young adult while enjoying many good times with her family.

      During her grade school years, Joyce was a very focused and serious student who actually enjoyed the challenge of many classroom problems. She was determined to succeed, and she drew upon her gifts of trust and perseverance to provide her with a competitive edge. While her first love might have been academics, Joyce took part in Curling, Broomball, Volleyball. She was a volunteer for the Red Cross, taught bible school on sundays, was a member of the student council, as well as the Public Relations standing committee and also helped out in the school library. Joyce delighted in projects that required planning, critical thinking and resolution. She was a member of the Grand Challenge winners in 1964-1965.

      During high school, Joyce was relentless in her pursuit of learning, especially in those subject areas that really grabbed hold of her interests. It wasn't that she didn't put forth her best efforts in all classes, but if a subject really interested her, she would eagerly put forth extra effort to learn all she could. Joyce graduated from Lloydminster High School in 1966. Her favorite class in high school was Science, Social Studies and Home Ec. The teacher she enjoyed learning from the most was Mrs Shephard. In addtion to graduating near the top of her class, Joyce will always be remembered as the " CAN DO GIRL" as the caption written by her peers in her 1965 year book states " Have no fear, Joyce is here".

      Joyce was loyal to her friends. She found that she was most in tune with people who had similar interests and thought about things much the way that she did. Joyce sometimes had a tendency to be critical in her friendships but she was more interested in finding out what was right in a situation rather than in being mean toward others. She never intentionally set out to hurt any of her friends. Joyce was a person who challenged others to fend for themselves and to be original in their thinking and evaluation of the outside world. While growing up, and all through her school years, some of her best friends were Pamela Wells and Judy Willment. Later in life she became friends with Tom and Betty Orgar, Bob and Wendy Tibbo, Norbert and Marg Wentzel, Stephan Rinn and Ulrike Schmiesing, Bob and Bev Miller, Robbie and Deb Davis, Cliff Davis, Marv and Avril Barr, and Dale and Phyllis Provo.

      On March 14th, 1970, Joyce exchanged wedding vows with Horst Fritz Urbaniak at Central United Church of Edmonton Alberta. Horst's sensitivity to Joyce's needs proved to be a wonderful influence on this woman, who preferred to live in her “gut.” Horst's influence brought Joyce to a new emotional level, one that eventually enhanced all of her other gifts and abilities. Horst was able to help Joyce appreciate the fact that others made contributions and Joyce became better at interacting with those around her. Because of this, Joyce grew as a person.

      Joyce often neglected her own feelings in order to give to others. This was very true when it came to how she dealt with her children. She was able to hand on to each child a number of strong values. She taught them to appreciate their abilities, gave them a desire to persevere despite obstacles and set within them a drive to succeed. She had Three Children, One son Ryan Micheal, twin daughters Michelle Leanne and Danielle Kimberly. She also had Two Grandchildren, Jeremy and Carter. They were always aware of how much Joyce loved them.

      During Joyce's professional working years, she was at her best when working independently. It became the hallmark of her performance. Joyce was generally able to refocus her drive and determination and readily work toward finding a way to get things done that was beneficial to herself and her co-workers. Her primary occupation was a Paralegal Secretary. Joyce was enrolled in a RN nursing program at the Royal Alex Hospital in Edmonton Alberta, after graduating from high school. She was too compassionate and sensitive to stay in nursing so she ceased her studies after 4 months. She went on to do some bookkeeping and secretarial work. She had always wanted to expand her horizons and see the rest of the world. She knew there was more to life than what small town Lloydminster had to offer. Joyce decided that she wanted to become a Stewardess. So she enrolled at a flight attendant school in Kansas City KS and took a 3 month Stewardess training course from which she graduated and got her wings.

      For Joyce, her outside interests and hobbies became another exercise in learning and mastering areas that interested her. She greatly enjoyed unraveling the "hows" and "whys" that lay behind her hobbies. Joyce was always pushing herself to learn more and to stretch her knowledge base even further. She firmly believed that the more things that she knew the more control she would have over things. Her favorite pursuits were dancing, travelling, 57 Chevies, remodelling her home.

      Watching her favorite sporting events by herself was never a problem for Joyce. It allowed her to indulge in her own individual interpretation of the event. It was not uncommon for Joyce to know what the right play or move “should have been,” and she would vocally address these feelings even if there was no one around to hear them. And if there were others around, she would still state his feelings and gladly debate anyone on their opposing views. In high school, Joyce played Volleyball, broomball and curling. Recreational sports included 5 pin bowling, boating, and fishing. She enjoyed following her favorite sporting events. Tops on her list were hockey, figure skating, nascar racing and CFL football.

      Due to Joyce's loyalty and passion for following things through to their conclusion, she found that she was a definite asset to many organizations. Once she was firmly behind a common goal, Joyce's skills became an integral part of the planning process and the success of any project. In high school, Joyce was a member of the Red Cross, Library, and the her high school public relations committee. Throughout her later years, Joyce was an active member of the Aldergrove soccer club, the Aldergrove figure skating club, Aldergrove hockey club, Fraser Vallet Ball Hockey Association, the Coastal Classic Chevy Club, the Fifty567 chevy club both in Edmonton Alberta and Vancouver BC, the law society of BC and the Sema Orginization 7. Joyce's contributions were valued as being the “structure” person of each individual organization.

      Joyce placed her interest wholeheartedly behind any project she took on. The “engineer” part of her personality pushed her to find out as much information as he could, to understand the practicality in a given situation. This was something that influenced her involvement in work, pleasure and volunteer activities. Joyce was involved in serving on committees for the Aldergrove Soccer Club, The Aldergrove Figure Skating Club and the Fraser Valley Ball Hockey Association.

      While she never set out to gain individual recognition, Joyce did receive honors and awards. Some of her most prestigious awards included her Stewardess wings, Super Mom Volunteer of the year in 1987 for all the time spent volunteering for numerous positions in the various sports clubs that her 3 kids were involved with that year.

      Joyce's skepticism was visible when she found it necessary to place too much trust in one person. This was never clearer than when it was time for her to schedule a vacation or period of time away from her regular schedule. Joyce loved the research aspects of planning a trip, but the actual process of relaxing was far more difficult. Still, she did manage to enjoy some time away. Favorite vacations included family vacations to Disneyland CA, Disneyworld FL, Exploring the maritime provinces, Carribean cruises, Club Med vacations, Duty Free shopping in the Virgin Islands, Germany and RVing in BC and California and Arizona.

      Joyce was a lover of animals and cherished her pets. One of Joyce's favorites was Sultan, a german shepherd dog. They were best friends for 14 years. Her family was rounded out by her cats Bert + Ernie and Tango.

      When Joyce's retirement finally came in 2002, she was ready. She worked out many of the details in advance so that she could enjoy the time and not have to worry. In retirement, she found new pleasure in running and operating our home based business, Classic Bowtie Connection, selling restoration parts for 1955, 1956, and 1957 Chevrolet cars. She also excelled in building our business website (After taking a week of night school courses) and compiling and publishing our 160 page picture parts catalog for the business. She enjoyed going to all the swap meets in western canada where her personality brought in more customers, some of whom became life long friends. She also had the "Luck Of The Irish" when it came to casinos and slot machines. That girl would always come away with a few hundred dollars in winnings no matter which casino or where it was. We went on a Carribean cruise and had just set sail. That evening Joyce went to the Casino and low and behold if she did not win $900.00 on a slot machine after 1/2 hour of play. Well this turned into a big deal. The casino manager came over and presented her with a Tshirt that said Players club Winn.

      Joyce Urbaniak passed away on July 13, 2013 at Langley Hospice, Langley British Columbia. Joyce fought a courageous 6 year battle against cancer. She is survived by her husband Horst, her children Ryan, Michelle and Danielle, her grandchildren Jeremy and Carter, her mother Louise Tverdeay, her sisters Debbie Utri, Terri Ellefson and husband Norm, nieces Lea, Bonnie, Kelley, Lisa Chantler, Jeanette Steeves, nephews Chris, Craig, Kent, Bob C, and their families. Services were held at Sharon United Church in Langley BC. Joyce was laid to rest in Fort Langley Cemetary in Fort Langley BC.

      Joyce Urbaniak was always drawn to what was measurable, practical and factual. She was a very competent person who expected competence from others. She could be headstrong and certain about the way things were supposed to be. She was determined in every aspect of her life and certain that she was usually right about things. She trusted her intuition over all else, even if it opposed the popular belief, and she had faith in her inner vision and speculations. She wanted to be acknowledged by others as having made a contribution to whatever she was working on. Her family and friends will miss her fierce determination, relentless innovations and analytic mind. She leaves with all those who knew her many wonderful memories.

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Joyce Helen Urbaniak, 65, of Langley, passed away peacefully with her family by her side on July 13th, 2013. She was born on June 30th, 1948 in Lloydminster Saskatchewan, daughter of Louise and Daniel Tverdeay. On March 14, 1970 she was united in marriage to Horst Urbaniak in Edmonton, Alberta. They moved to Vancouver in 1972 after having their amazing honeymoon there. Joyce is survived by her husband Horst Urbaniak, her three children Ryan, Danielle and Michelle, grandsons Jeremy and Carter Vincent, her sister Shirley Tverdeay, Terry Ellefson, Debbbie Utri and her mother Louise Tverdeay. She was predeceased by her father Daniel Matt Tverdeay as well as her younger brother Ricky Tverdeay. A funeral service will be held at the Sharon United Church in Murrayville on July 19th, at 11:00 AM. In lieu of flowers, donation may be made to the Langley Hospice Society.

Arrangements under the direction of Henderson's Langley Funeral Home.