Joyce Byllesby

Sept. 6, 2020

Posted

Joyce Byllesby, 87, of Carmel passed away peacefully Sunday, Sept. 6, 2020.

She was born in Sioux Falls, South Dakota in 1933 to Harold and Emily Byllesby and was raised with her sisters, Lois (Cardona), May (Godwin) and cousin Marcy (Lindbery).

Joyce, known to her family as Joy, grew up in a time of hardship as she watched her older sister struggle to survive polio and her family’s struggle with the poverty of the depression. But she also had the great happiness of a loving family and the unending pride and joy of having the town’s best sledding hill in her own back yard.

As a young woman, Joyce contracted TB and spent a year in “the San,” as she called the treatment center in the Black Hills of South Dakota. When she emerged, she pursued a career in medicine and received her medical degree from the University of Kansas in 1962, one of only two women in her graduating class. She specialized in pathology (with residencies in Omaha and Tampa) practiced in Crawfordsville and Washington, Indiana and taught in the famed “Man in a Can” course at IUPUI. She leaves a legacy of professional integrity.

Joyce was an artist with needlework. In her teens, she sewed. As a young career woman, she knitted. And then, she discovered quilting when she joined the quilting circle at the Trinity United Methodist Church in Crawfordsville. She later founded the quilting group at Carmel United Methodist Church and was a long time member of the Quilters Guild of Indianapolis. She leaves a legacy of arts and service.

Joyce was a good and loyal friend. Her friends, Natalie, Mary Jayne Gallian, John Bowerman and many, many others are testament of the legacy of friendship left by Joyce. Joyce is survived by nieces, Carol Cardona, Kim Lindbery, Kristi Lindbery and Shirlery Godwin; nephew Jim Godwin; cousin Marcy Lindbery; great-nieces, Emily, Allison, Eileen and Laney; and her dear friend Robert Haag with whom she shared a deep and abiding love. She leaves a legacy of family and friendship.

A memorial service for Joyce is planned for the spring.


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