Joyce Ruth Edgar

Born September 23, 1928, in Berwick, Pennsylvania, she was the youngest of the five children of Harold E. Shotwell and Myrtle C. (Gordner) Shotwell. After graduating from high school and with a positive recommendation from her business teacher, Joyce began her career in banking at The First National Bank and Trust of Berwick. During her tenure she rose from a teller to the highest position a woman could have, and she saw the bank expand from one to several branches in northeastern Pennsylvania.

Joyce took her mother on a trip to the Panama Canal Zone to visit her brother Jack who was stationed at Fort Gulick. While there she met the love of her life, Frank M. Edgar. After returning to Pennsylvania, they began to correspond with daily letters and six months later they were married October 13, 1962. As they honeymooned in New Jersey, the Bay of Pigs Incident occurred and Maj. Edgar was immediately requested to go to his new duty station, Fort Sill, Oklahoma where they would make their home.

From a young age, Joyce had a love for using her hands, and initially began sewing clothes for her doll, before learning to knit from her mother. She later designed her own clothing where her fashionable wardrobe caught everyone’s eye. In the 1970s Joyce began quilting and was a Charter Member of the Wichita Mountains Quilt Guild where several of her designs won awards including Viewer’s Choice. Later, her passion for knitting was reignited when she began making sweaters and afghans which were lovingly given as wedding gifts and teacher appreciation presents. Her afghans were so popular that she entered it in the Comanche County Free Fair and won a Blue Ribbon for the Judge’s Choice Award. She also loved to travel, and during road trips, she would meticulously knit what would later be called the “Road Trip Afghans.”

Joyce loved her children and enjoyed being involved in their lives. While they were in school, she was an active member of the Western Hills Elementary PTA where she helped establish a library for the students and volunteered there weekly. She also sewed Revolutionary Costumes worn by the principals for the United States Bicentennial Celebration. She was an active member of the Lawton DeMolay Mother’s Club, Job’s Daughters Bethel Guardian of Bethel #7, as well as a member of the Order of Eastern Star and the Order of the Amaranth. She was a member of Saint Andrews Episcopal Church.

In 2009, Joyce sold her home of forty years in Lawton, Oklahoma to be closer to her granddaughter Sophie in Oklahoma City. They had a very close relationship, and Joyce always enjoyed the special moments they shared together. Joyce used her love of sewing to make Sophie clothing for her first day of school and was always willing to help her in mending and altering her clothes.

Joyce had a generous spirit, and never enjoyed being in the spotlight. She preferred to help and support others and was willing to give whatever she could to anyone who needed it. Therefore, per her wishes, there will be no memorial or funeral service, instead, she will be interred next to her late husband at Arlington National Cemetery.

Joyce was preceded in death by her parents, Harold and Myrtle Shotwell, her siblings, Janet Shotwell, Jack Shotwell, Earl Shotwell, and Deloris “Dee” Shotwell Switzer, and her husband, LTC Frank M. Edgar.

Joyce is survived by three stepchildren F. Michael Edgar and wife Nancy of Newport Beach, California, Dianne Fischer and husband Karl of Lafayette, Louisiana, Deborah Little Chief and husband Barthell of Anadarko, Oklahoma, as well as two children, Stephen Edgar and wife Judi of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, Ruth Jones and husband Selden of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and granddaughter Sophie Jones and fiancé Sedrick Weinschenk of Lebanon, Indiana.