Joyce Amelia Hilman

She graduated from Holy Angels Academy New Orleans, Louisiana in 1947.

Her love of dance began at the age of 3 and continued throughout her lifetime. She started teaching classes in New Orleans at the age of 16. When the family moved to Dallas in 1958, she taught tap, ballet, jazz and ballroom at Storybook Playhouse for 13 years. In 1971 she opened “Miss Joyce School of Dance” in DeSoto and continued teaching dance for the next 22 years. Her dedication to dance touched many along the way.

In 1993 she was crowned Ms. Texas Senior America and went on to win the Special Talent Award in the Ms. Senior America Pageant in Nashville, Tennessee with her rendition of The Charleston. At the age of 63, she joined the Dallas Tap Dazzlers which is an exciting and versatile senior dance group. She also enjoyed bowling and bingo.

She is preceded in death by her parents; her husband John Hilman Sr. who passed away in 1987; and recently by her long-time companion, travel and dance partner, and dear friend Harry Reynolds.

She is survived by her three children and their spouses, Judy Hilman Parker (Lee), John Hilman Jr. (Kim), and Jeff Hilman (Laura); three grandchildren, Jennifer, Joshua, and Tyler (Brittany).

Miss Joyce was loved by many and feared by those who did not “point their toes”.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research www.michaeljfox.org.

We invite friends to a remembrance visitation for our mother (Miss Joyce) on Thursday, April 23rd, come and go from 5:00 to 8:00 PM at Laurel Land Funeral Home, located at 6300 S RL Thornton (I 35E) in Dallas, Texas.