Joyce Anita Arntson

When asked where Ada was located, Joyce was fond of saying it was halfway between Fertile, Minn., and Climax, Minn. The youngest by 10 years of four sisters, Joyce grew up during WWII at home with these older sisters and their babies, while their husbands were deployed in the military. Joyce's mother, Anga, instilled in them strong Norwegian values, a deep Lutheran faith and a servant's heart. (She was once asked by a palliative RN if she had a religious preference and she said "NORWEGIAN")

In 1951 Joyce married Bill Larson two years after high school and moved to Denver, Colo., where daughter Anne and son Tom were born. A later move took them to Spokane, Wash., where son Martin was born. Their final move was to northeast Portland. With each move, she would join the local Lutheran church and choir

In 1967 Joyce married Neal Arntson and together they added son Jarl to their blended family of Anne, Tom, Marty, and Neal's sons Bradley, Jeffery, and Gregory. Joyce and Neal created out of the chaos of seven children ages 1-15, a home that was welcoming to all, with something always cooking in the kitchen, and Sunday sit down dinners full of laughter and warm memories. Creating a warm, inviting home for Neal and their children was one of Joyce's highest priorities. She loved to entertain, cook, and decorate. Joyce had beautiful tastes in furniture, artwork, and how to arrange a room and space.

Their home was a safe place where those seven children grew the family to 25 grandchildren and 26 great-grandchildren. Once the family grew too large, Joyce organized holiday gatherings at venues outside the home. She also began the tradition of "Family Vacation" which included every child, grandchild and great-grandchild building life long memories of Hawaii, Italy, skiing, dude ranch horse riding and many others.

Joyce suffered a stroke in October 2013, which eventually led to vascular dementia. Amazingly she held onto a lifetime passion of good food, creativity, design and art on full display in every home she lived, including the "Cottage" at Touchmark where she oversaw a total remodel. You could see the "touch" of her heart in everything in their homes, especially their coast home in Seaside, Ore.

The most important things to Joyce were her faith, her family and her friends. She was an avid tennis player into her 70's and a competitive bridge player. She loved to travel with Neal spending weeks hiking the Cotswolds, the Dolomites or Sicily. Over the years her deep love of music spurred her support of the Vancouver symphony, her faith informed her support of Young Life and her compassion led her to volunteer at The Dougy Center for grieving children.

She is survived by her husband, Neal Arntson; son, Jarl (Angie) Arntson; daughter, Anne Buck; son, Tom (Margaret) Larson; son, Martin (Judy) Larson; stepsons, Bradley (Clara) Arntson, Jeffrey (Kathleen) Arntson, and Gregory (Beth) Arntson; 25 grandchildren; and 26 great-grandchildren.