Joyce Dee Golliher

A Life Lived - Joyce Dee Golliher September 5, 1944 – November 4, 2012 Joyce Dee Oxley was born on September 5, 1944, the daughter of Charles Murray and Sarah Reynolds Oxley in Modoc, Indiana. Although she was an only child, she was surrounded by family in the small eastern Indiana community with numerous grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Her beginnings were humble and the family did not have much money. Joyce learned to make do with what she had and become a responsible good-hearted young adult. She attended Union High School near her hometown with her lifelong friend, Naomi Golliher. This friendship proved to be instrumental to the course of her life, since through Naomi, she met her future husband, Kenneth Golliher. Kenny and Joyce married on September 15, 1963 and remained married until his death on July 25, 2005. Kenneth was an enlisted man in the Navy. As a Navy wife, Joyce was able to meet many new friends and see many exotic places. Initially stationed on the west coast, Joyce and Kenny lived in Oakland, CA. Shortly after their marriage, Joyce became pregnant with her first child and gave birth to Kelly Dean Golliher on February 17, 1965. Shortly afterward, Kenny was transferred to the east coast and settled in Norfolk, VA. There, another lifelong friendship was formed with David and Diana Martin (Healey) and their little girl, Davina. Joyce gave birth to her second son, Casey Shawn Golliher on June 17, 1967 while Kenny was out to sea. Thankfully, Diana was there to make sure Joyce made it to the hospital in time. Joyce got her first taste of overseas life when they were transferred to Morocco in North Africa. Joyce had her hands full setting up a new household in a foreign country with two small children. Fortunately, she had friends there already; David and Diana were transferred to Morocco as well. While she was there, Joyce did not sit idly, but instead, took advantage of this opportunity to visit the Sahara Desert and Europe, thus igniting a passion for travel that would continue for the rest of her life. In 1972, Joyce, Kenny and the boys moved back to Norfolk, VA to stay. Through hard work and self-sacrifice, they were able to build a better life for themselves and their children. Joyce went back to school and earned a degree from Kee’s Business College, then got a job with the Internal Revenue Service as a secretary. Meanwhile Kenny continued to advance in the Navy where he would eventually retire as a Master Chief Petty Officer in 1980. Their many years of working odd jobs, cutting coupons, scrimping and saving finally paid off in 1978, when Joyce and Kenny made their final move – literally right across the street. After years of admiring the “big house on the corner” situated across the street from the duplex they were living in, they were able to purchase their dream house, the place they would live in for the rest of their lives. There they enjoyed gardening, remodeling the house and traveling. Joyce and Kenny travelled to various places in America, Europe and even New Zealand. Joyce and Kenny continued their long friendship with Diana, with Diana eventually joining them at the “big house on the corner”. The three of them often took trips together. Their license plate said it all – “3 to Go”. In Joyce’s latter years, she encountered many ups and downs. She saw the graduation from college of both her sons, the marriages of Kelly to Gaby and Casey to Ellen, and the arrival of her two grandchildren, Lyzzie and Megan. She celebrated the arrival of Diana’s grandchildren, Michelle, Rachel, and Stephanie, and great-grandchildren, Brendan and Jayden. She also saw the untimely death of her eldest son Kelly in 1994 and the death of her husband in 2005. Through it all, she persevered and stayed the sharing and caring person she had been raised to be. In all her travels, she touched many lives and made a deep impact on all who knew her. She will be sorely missed by her family, her long time friends and their families, coworkers, neighbors and all who had the opportunity to know her.