Joyce Marshall Coover

Joyce Marshall Coover, 84, passed away at the First Class Adult Care Facility in Phoenix, Arizona, on the morning of April 24, 2015, after a lengthy illness. She was born in Minneola, Clark County, Kansas, on September 20, 1930, the only child of Geth Pitman Marshall and Leslie A. Marshall. Joyce spent her formative years in Minneola and was graduated from Minneola High School in 1948. She then attended and was graduated from Fort Hays College, now Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kansas, in May 1952. She married Charles Richard Coover in 1952 and began her teaching career in a small country schoolhouse between Lakin and Leoti, Kansas. In 1965 Joyce moved with her husband and three children to Phoenix, Arizona, where she became the librarian for the newly built Moon Valley High School. She was quite popular with the faculty due to her sincere kindness, snappy wit, and excellent baking skills. The students also loved her because they knew she was someone who truly cared. After 23 years at Moon Valley, Joyce transferred to Independence High School where she worked as the librarian until her retirement in 1992. Throughout her adult life Joyce made others her top priority by cooking for and serving meals to the homeless. But she is best remembered for her love of animals. Joyce volunteered many years at the Arizona Animal Welfare League Thrift Store. Cats were her favorite, and any feral cat that wanted a good meal instinctively knew to go to Joyce’s home. Her parents, ex-husband, and son Dylan predeceased Joyce, but she is survived by her stepson Leslie Charles Coover (Carolyn) of Topeka, Kansas, daughter Schyler Hart and grandson Tom Hart of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Typical of Joyce she said she did not want to “rest in peace” when she died since, “Why? There is no fun in that!” She also requested no memorial service and that donations be made in her name to the Arizona Humane Society or any other local no-kill shelter.