Marilyn Joyce Espinola

As a beautiful young student, loving mom, and gifted grandmother (Noni), Joyce did everything with great strength and panache. She overcame the tragic deaths of her father and two brothers just as she became a single, working mother to Suzanne, at a time when it was not common. Through everything, she persevered and, with determination and talent, built a beautiful home and a devoted family.

A proud 1956 graduate of McClatchy High School, Joyce came from a family of aviators, earning her pilot’s license before setting off to college in San Francisco and then, as a "young married" to Hawaiʻi. Though marriage and family interrupted her academic career, she later returned to school, completing her degree and studying French, a language first heard at her mother’s knee.

Throughout her life, even after the birth of twins Michele and Jennifer, she juggled a successful career while adding an artistic twist to everything she touched. She experienced and shared joy through her lovely garden and her endless ingenuity, using her skills and imagination to create everything from Halloween costumes to delicate, panoramic Easter eggs.

Undoubtedly, her greatest gift was her culinary skill. Long before today’s foodie culture, Joyce perfected everything from cannelloni and wonton to Beef Wellington and rosettes. She delighted in sharing these talents with her grandsons, inspiring each of them to be inventive and skilled in the kitchen.

Joyce’s great love of the outdoors was passed on to Michele and Jennifer through many camping and beach trips, and her love of family history and adventure was shared with Suzanne as they traversed France and England together.

Joyce treasured her family, her garden, and perhaps most of all, the many dogs and kitties who shared her world. She was talented, resourceful, and determined—and, on occasion, thoroughly infuriating. But everything shone a little brighter under her touch.

Her memory lives on in her family, who will carry forward tales of doughnuts and pale gravy, and for whom every bit of chocolate and every crashing wave will be a reminder of this creative soul who was, in so many ways, ahead of her time.

Her three daughters, Suzanne, Michele, and Jennifer, survive her, as do three grandsons, one great-grandson, son-in-law Jim, and former spouse Robert Espinola. Her parents, brothers Robert and Peter Hill, and former husband Jim Wahl predeceased her.