Davenport, IA on August 13, 1929 to her passing on May 14, 2020. She is survived by her four
children, Martha Priska (Everett Knox) (New Orleans), Susan (Henry) Clarke (St. Petersburg,
FL), Carolyn (Martin) Jaster (Leesburg, VA), and David Johnston (Tampa, FL); and
grandchildren, Bryce Clarke, Emily Jaster, and Ariadna Johnston, as well as by her sister-in-law
and friend, Constance “Connie” Runge. She is preceded in death by her parents, Martin Luther
Runge and Mida Galbraith Runge, her older brothers Henry, William and Albert Runge , her
identical twin sister Joan “Jo” Runge Chell, and her husband of almost 67 years, Dr. James Paul
Johnston.
Growing up, Joyce and Joan Runge were the sort of best-friend twins who were so close
that they dressed alike. In school, the twins would sometimes swap places to take exams, so that
each would only have to study for one subject. Joyce once told me that she had never been lonely
or bored with her sister around—“and if she was busy,” she told me, “there’s always a good
book.”
Upon their high school graduation in 1947 from St. Katharine’s School in Davenport, the
pair went on to attend Lake Forest College together in Lake Forest, IL. Joyce graduated Magna
Cum Laude in 1951, with a major in history. She received the Shield Honors, which was given to
the four seniors ranking highest in general scholarship, as well as the Sigma Eta Award for
Excellence in Scholarship, and the Chi Omega Award for Excellence in the Social Sciences. As
an Alumnus, Joyce remained active in the Alumni chapter of her sorority, Alpha Delta Pi.
Joyce spent a year as a teacher in a north Chicago suburb, where she met Dr. James Paul
Johnston, a Quad Cities native in the midst of his medical education. When Joyce’s roommate
left to get married, and Joyce was unable to find another, she returned to Davenport—and later
married Paul on September 5, 1953.
Throughout her life, Joyce remained dedicated to community service. For years, she
delivered Meals on Wheels, and volunteered at the Rock Island County Historical Society and at
the Colonel Davenport House on Arsenal Island. She was a member of the Philanthropic
Educational Organization and the Visiting Nurses Association. Evenings and weekends, she
enjoyed meeting her friends to play Bridge, and attended Civil War roundtable meetings. When
her daughter Martha became a Girl Scout, Joyce served as the leader of her troop. Her family
remembers her as someone who always kept busy and loved to read.
When I, her granddaughter, would visit her as a child, Joyce would sing to me almost
every evening her classic favorites, like “Who’s that kitty in the window?” (modified from
“doggie,” since I had cats at home), and “A Bushel and a Peck.” For as long as I can remember,
Joyce signed off her phone calls to me with “I love you a bushel and a peck,” and would refuse
to hang up until I responded “and a hug around the neck.”
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