Joyce Yvonne LaFerney was born in Orange, CA on May 29, 1934 to Fred LaFerney and Berta Hefner LaFerney. Joyce was the youngest of 7 children. She worked as an Orange picker when she was 16 until she gave birth to her first son, James Robert. She married the love of her life Eugene Dennis Lilley (Buddy) in 1954 and had two more sons, Dennis Wade and Eugene Dee. Even though she was born on May 29th, her birth certificate says June 1st and she used this as an excuse to celebrate her birthday for three days each year. She was vivacious, funny, outspoken and loved her family. She was also a fighter. Don't tell her No because she took that as a challenge. She was an avid hunter and shot as well or even better than the boys. Buddy, Joyce and the boys moved to Las Vegas in 1957 while Buddy started up his own business named "Gene's Distributing." When he retired in 1970, they bought a fifth wheel and moved to their 240 acre ranch in Beryl, Utah. Eventually they would travel back and forth between "The Ranch" and Havasu Lake, CA. Even after her husband passed away in 1997 she would still make the drive twice a year until she came to live with her oldest son in 2019.
She was preceded in death by her husband Buddy in 1997, middle son Wade in 2007 and youngest son Geno in 2018. She is survived by her son Jim, 13 grandchildren, 20 great grandchildren and everyone who had the privilege of knowing this special woman. She will forever be remembered as "Granny" to most of us and the one who would kick us in the rear and encourage us to do better. We are all better people because of you. We all love you and miss you dearly Granny.
Memorial Gathering will be held at 10 am, Thursday, June 25, 2020 at Shannon Rufe Snow Funeral Home, 6001 Rufe Snow Drive, Fort Worth, Texas 76148.
