Joyce M. Usher (nee Heintz) passed away peacefully on February 10th, 2019. Born in 1926 in Waterford, Wisconsin she grew up on the Fox Isle Resort, which was owned by her parents. She studied Journalism at the University of Chicago, with post graduate work at the University of Wisconsin. In 1946 she was hired by the U.S. Government, and after a FBI background check was sent to an “undisclosed” location, later identified as Oak Ridge, Tennessee. There Joyce worked with a group of editors and journalists writing the military history of the Manhattan Project. In 1947 Joyce moved to Chicago where her parents now lived, and was hired at the Encyclopedia Britannica where she worked until 1955. Joyce met her husband, Wesley “Gerry” Usher in 1948 in Chicago while he was stationed at 5th Army Headquarters with the Military Police. Married in 1949, they moved to Itasca, Illinois in 1951. Joyce became in involved in numerous organizations in her new home town, including counseling Camp Fire Girl units, First Aid merit badge instructor for the Boy Scouts, the Itasca Garden Club, the Junior Women’s Club, the Itasca Historical Society, the Itasca Historical Commission, the DuPage County Historical Society, and the Itasca North School PTA.
Her love of editing and publishing saw her write a short a history of Itasca “This is Itasca” in 1965, Itasca’s 75th Anniversary. This led to her being offered the position of Managing Editor with F.E. Peacock Publishing, a college text book publishing firm. She also published a number of local histories for communities across DuPage County. After leaving publishing she worked for a few years at Edward Hines Lumber in Hoffman Estates, and then at the Itasca Fire Protection District as the Chief’s secretary. Joyce is survived by her son Brian Usher (Teri), her Grandchildren Jennifer Carr (Stephen) and Adam Usher, her niece Gail Woldridge (Laird), and four great-grand children Chase, Mckenzie, Abigail, and Sydney Carr. She was proceeded in death by her husband, her parents Raymond and Norma Heintz, and her sister Hazel Hart.
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.8.18