Joyce Estelle Nabower Davenport

Joyce Estelle Nabower Davenport, age 92, most recently of The Dalles, Oregon, passed away July 23, 2016. She was born to Walter Otto Nabower and Norah Munnerley Nabower in Prosser, Nebraska on August 28, 1923. In 1934, in the midst of the Great Depression, the Nabower corn crop was entirely destroyed in a tornado. Her family and 11-year-old Joyce sold what was left and moved to Oregon where they settled in the Rockwood area and Joyce attended Wilkes Elementary School. She graduated from Gresham Union High School in 1941.

Joyce met Roy A. Davenport in 1941 at a dance, and they were engaged in October, 1941 before he left in April 1942 to serve in WWII. Following high school, she worked at the Army Induction Station, Janzen Mills and then for the Oregon Bankers Association. Upon his safe return, Joyce and Roy married in 1945.

When most married women of that time were stay-at-home mothers and homemakers, Joyce also had a career working as purchasing agent for the University of Oregon Dental School, now OHSU, from 1953-1974 when she retired.

Joyce followed some of her passions as a member of Multnomah Anglers and Hunters Club. She sang with the Sweet Adelines, hunted mushrooms with the Oregon Mycological Society, searched for ancestors with the Genealogical Forum of Oregon, belonged to the VFW Ladies Auxiliary and sang with The Singing Springs Choral Club in The Dalles. She was also a home tester for Betty Crocker kitchens for 10 years.

Joyce was a life-long learner. She was a very talented artist and won awards for her color pencil drawings. Her sewing skills helped her contribute so many clothes to the Little Dresses for Africa program. She was a published author of family stories and recipes.

She will be buried at Willamette National Cemetery with her husband, Roy (1918-2009). She is survived by her daughters Norah Ann (Jerry) Pratton and Janet Drummond (Donald Wanzek); two granddaughters, Pamela Pratton McMasters (Gabriel) and Rachel Drummond; three great-grandchildren, Chelsea, Hayden and Skylar; her sister, Dorothy Nabower Leeson; four nieces and four nephews.

It was Joyce’s wishes that any donations in her memory by given to the Multnomah Anglers and Hunters Club Scholarship Fund to which she and Roy contributed for over 50 years.

Remember Me

To the living, I am gone.

To the sorrowful, I will never return.

To the angry, I was cheated.

But to the happy, I am at peace.

And to the faithful, I have never left.

I cannot be seen, but I can be heard.

So as you stand upon a shore,

Gazing at a beautiful sea.

Remember me…

As you look in awe at a mighty forest,

And its grand majesty.

Remember me…

As you look upon a flower,

And admire its simplicity.

Remember me…

Remember me in your heart,

Your thoughts, your memories of the times we loved,

The times we cried, the times we fought, the times we laughed.

For if you always think of me, I will never be gone…

~Anonymous