Joy Lynn Wood

Joy passed away after a valiant battle with stage 4 cancer in her right lung. Though she never smoked a day in her life, the cancer she had was caused by melanoma on her forearm that traveled to her lung. Joy was born in Los Angeles on September 10, 1960 to Thomas Jerry and Geraldine Lee (Ferkel) Wood.

Days after Joy was born, while still in the hospital, she contracted whooping cough and had to stay in the hospital for 3 months, struggling for her little life. When she came home, her mom, dad and little sister, Betty (age 5, born January 10, 1955) were so happy she survived this serious and often deadly disease. When Joy was two or three years old, the family packed up the kids and headed to San Jose, CA to make a better life there. Jerry got a good job at the White Front store as a Shipping clerk and furniture delivery man, and Geraldine worked part time for Kelly Girl Services doing temporary office work. Sadly, on August 22nd,1965, two and a half weeks before Joy’s 5th birthday, while they were traveling to Reno on a Greyhound bus, Geraldine suffered a fatal heart attack while sleeping in her husband’s arms.

After Geraldine’s death, and the lack of income and no mother for his children, Joy’s dad could not afford his car payment and the laundry was piling up in the house. Jerry’s best friend urged him to hire someone to help with the laundry as he was “starting to look like a bum!” That is when he hired Barbara Elaine (Smith) Wild to do his family’s laundry. They fell in love and got married on June 12, 1966. Jerry and Betty joined Barbara’s family with children - Shelby Ray, age 14, Tracy Jo, age 5, Tammy Sue, age 4, and Teddy Rae, age 2. On October 22, 1967, they had a son and named him Thomas Todd Wood. Barbara managed apartments during this time and the whole family lived in two units, having a door installed between the two units to accommodate needed bedrooms for the children. Joy was 7 years old at the time Todd was born. She said that Todd was her baby and helped raise him because mother was busy with managing the apartments. The Wood kids all got along and had the best of times playing games, making each other laugh and riding their bikes around the neighborhood. Eventually Jerry got a better job working for Redline Carriers and United Van Lines doing commercial and residential moving jobs and was able to buy their first home in 1971, in Willow Glen, California, just a half a mile down the street from the apartments they lived in.

Joy and her siblings attended school at Willow Glen High School and graduated in 1977, a year earlier than her peers due to taking many summer school classes and obtaining many credits. Joy returned in 1978 to graduate with her class. After her graduation, Joy worked for about 10 years in the field as a Medical Collection clerk and, in 1989, Joy established “Joy’s Family Home” and dedicated her life as a full time caregiver for adults with developmental disabilities. Joy loved them so much, they were like her children.

Joy loved to sing. She sang at Faith Temple, now known as The Cathedral of Faith, for some church services. She had to put that aside once she became a full time caregiver, but never stopped singing gospel and country music in her home. She had a beautiful voice with perfect pitch too! She also loved to read love stories, murder mysteries and do crossword puzzles. She had a great big heart for her family, siblings and nieces and nephews, Heidi and Matthew Bell and Rachel and Joey Caruana.

Survived by her sisters Tracy Caruana, Tammy Hume and Teddy Wild Townsend (Chuck) and brother Todd Wood and mother Barbara Wood. She was preceded in death by her Mother: Geraldine Lee (Ferkel) Wood 4/7/1954 - 8/22/1965, her Father: Thomas Jerry Wood 6/20/1934 - 1/5/2004, her Sister: Betty Marlene Wood 1/10/1955 - 7/3/2005 and her Brother: Shelby Ray Bell 11/22/1952 - 8/5/2017.