April 12, 1927 – February 2, 2015
Our loving mother and wife, Joyce, as all in Frankenmuth knew her, passed away at the age of 87 of natural causes. She had resided in Frankenmuth from 1959 until June 2014, when her health necessitated her move to East Lansing.
Joyce was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1927 to Kemp and Zettie Chandler. Her mother passed away from Tuberculosis when she was 6 months old. Thus, her father took his daughter back to his parents in West Tennessee. On the farm in New Salem, Tennessee, she was raised by her Pappy Obe and Mammy Minnie along with aunts and uncles, who were more like her siblings.
As she grew, she would spend parts of the summer in the city with her Aunt Lucille and Uncle Ralph Wood, who treated her as their own. With the arrival of World War II, she learned to drive at 14 in order to drive her Grandparents to town. This likely started her lifelong interest in automobiles.
She graduated from Sharon High School in 1945. She met William “Bill” Travis, recently home from serving in the Air Force as a WWII pilot, when he sold her a car in Gleason, Tennessee. They were married on June 11, 1946 in Lansing, Michigan.
Joyce was a wonderful Mother to Brenda Joyce, William Kemp, Sandra Elaine and Chandler (“Chad”) Wood. She had a special nurturing touch, but could also keep a child in line with a quick “Here!” in her southern accent.
Bill and Joyce moved to Frankenmuth in 1959 with Brenda, Sandy and Billy in tow. They first lived on South Gera Road, and then moved to town in 1962. They resided at 316 Sunburst until the present. Besides working a couple years at Bronner’s before the birth of Chad, Joyce was dedicated Mother and home maker.
Joyce was a Charter Member of the Frankenmuth United Methodist Church. She restored a 1955 Chevrolet Bel Aire, she bowled on a women’s league at the Frankenmuth Bowling Alley, exercised at the library and always enjoyed a good polka dance! Joyce had numerous good friends during her 50 plus years in Frankenmuth. She also loved walks on the beach at their cottage in Greenbush and traveling to see her kids, grandkids and great-grandkids. She and Bill spent many winters in Texas, playing rancher. Norma loved young people, never turning away those in troubled times; her home was always open to all. She enjoyed spending time on her front porch on a summer’s day best with family, friends or her dog.
Joyce is survived by her husband, Bill, daughter Brenda and Steve Ramsby of East Lansing, daughter Sandy and Steve McClintic of Argyle, Texas, son Bill and Tracy Travis of Hico, Texas and son Chandler Travis and fiancée Anna Flaaten of Phoenix, Arizona. She also has 8 grandkids and 3 great-grandkids.
The family will be served by Gorsline Runciman Funeral Home, Lansing chapel. A service officiated by Pastor Margie Osborn will be February 7th at 12:00pm, visitation the hour prior. On February 13th at the New Salem Presbyterian Church in Sharon, Tennessee there will be a service with internment in the adjoining Chandler family cemetery. For those wishing to make a memorial donation can be made to Stoneleigh Hospice, Ingham County Animal Shelter, or the Frankenmuth United Methodist Church.
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