Picto Diary - 24, 25, 26 October 2018 - Aunt Joyce

Above: Z and Roy. Salt Lake City. 24 October 2018.

Soccer grandparenting.

Monkey business.

There was a jungle gym nearby, but the kids raced to the tree. — in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Above: Quitting Time ski run. Cafe Terigo. 25 October 2018.

Shoulder season. Lunch with TIMDT.

Above: SDT and Aunt Joyce. Larks's Restaurant. Ashland, OR. May 2018.

Today, 26 October 2018. The forum lost one of its members. Aunt Joyce died yesterday. Margaret and I feel fortunate to have seen Joyce in a declining, but sentient and alert state, in Ashland, two weeks ago. At the time of our visit, we were aware that Joyce, diagnosed with stage for lung cancer, was on borrowed time. But, the doctor had suggested three to six months. We were surprised to hear of Joyce's passing so soon after her visit.

Here is Joyce's friend, Eddie Wallace's, Facebook post on Aunt Joyce's passing... followed by a comment I made on Eddie's post.

SDT

Eddie Wallace
21 hrs
Joyce DeWitt

My sweet friend Joyce DeWitt Thompson passed away yesterday, far too soon despite living to what some would say is the ripe old age of 89.

Many of my OSF and Ashland friends know Joyce from her ten years at the OSF membership cart in front of the Angus Bowmer Theatre and in the members lounge.

Joyce was such a life force, possessing so much warmth and positive energy. And she was an unapologetically AWESOME SALESPERSON! She worked that membership cart with a dedication and prowess that single-handedly funded a few OSF productions, I'm sure.

My favorite memory of Joyce is when she would have a great shift at the membership cart and come bounding down the hall (as only an 85-year old can bound) and say "I got three new ones, four upgrades and five renewals!" and she could tell you to the penny how much she had brought in that day to support the Festival. She brought joy and great talent to a not-so-glamorous but so-very-necessary part of the arts - the fundraising.

Some members would only renew with Joyce when they visited every year, so they would be able to catch up on all the happenings in the past year.

Other than interacting with members, Joyce loved it when company members, especially actors, would come and visit at the cart, and thank her for her enormous contribution to the Festival. Joyce was so proud to be a member of the company.

Joyce had a wide extended family and she was always showing me the latest pictures of her grandkids, grand-nieces and nephews. And I must say it is quite a photogenic bunch! And you could tell they all loved Joyce deeply.

I couldn't believe it when I heard that Joyce was ill a few weeks ago. In my mind, we had time for many lunch dates and visits to come. Luckily we were able to have two visits in which she showed me her courage, her resilience and stoicism in facing what she knew was coming quickly. She said she was not afraid, had lived a good life and had so many blessings along the way. She had quite a steady stream of visitors and cards these past two weeks. We should all be so supported when our time comes.

Thanks Joyce for the wonderful company, and the laughs and the life lessons. I will miss you.

Stephen D. Taylor: Joyce, sister to Mom, was present at my birth in 1945. Until today she was the living person I have known longest. My annual (sometimes twice annual) visits to Ashland over the last twenty years to see Aunt Joyce and OSF plays are a highlight of my life. Joyce's enthusiasm about being an OSF employee and booster got me interested in theater. I'll greatly miss those Ashland experiences with Joyce. She was a light to my life and, as can be seen from Eddie's post, a light to the lives of many. May she rest in peace.

Above: TIMDT on Trax. Salt Lake City, UT. 26 October 2018.

TIMDT loves Trax. She would do it every day if she could.

Above: Dates of change of rear rubber on Duc. 26 October 2018.

Addendum:

Fish and Hook. Vacationing in Ireland. 26 October 2018.

Thank you so much for the [Hoover] notes. I miss Charles Krauthammer but Victor Davis Hansen is a stock to buy.

Peterbilt, Bountiful, UT

Thank you for these [Hoover] notes Steve, well done. I am forwarding to friends who could not make this retreat. Enjoyed catching up with you and Margaret.

Mezzanine,
Miami, FL

Steve,

Tom,
Aspen, CO

Thanks for the tip. Sounds interesting. Until this last read, my knowledge of the ins and outs of this war has been limited.

It’s either Disparate or Desperate.

So, Ingrish Majer, which is it? (Yes, yes, I can read the book cover, which you clearly can’t, much less the content).

I’m surprised that you devote time to reading. I hope it isn’t too much of a strain on what must be left of your shriveled cerebrum……

Jack Aroon, Mahwah, NJ

Thanks for the spelling coorection. A lot of other reeders don't take the time to help out. Much apreciated.

We loved his Kit Carson story which we read while traveling through AZ and NM, upon your recommendation. I’ll get this one for Paul, I know he will enjoy it.

Sara,
Palo Alto, CA

not chesty puller?

an excellent mid-sixties history of the Korean War: This Kind of War by Fehrenbach, recently reissued. (Interesting the way his language changes depending on this topic--very GI when describing battles, very formal when writing about diplomacy, etc.)

Perfesser (sic)
Ashland, OR

Chesty was a Colonel, Brigade commander who worked for Smith. Sides writes a bit about him in the book, acknowledging his rock star status as a fighting field commander.

---Original Message-----
From: Sara Gilman
To: Stephen D. Taylor <[email protected]>
Sent: Fri, Oct 26, 2018 8:30 pm
Subject: Have you heard this story before?

Steve, Mom left an unfinished personal history on her laptop. I have loaded it onto mine and have been enjoying the stories she wrote.
Here is one about your birth.

"The end of the war with Germany had occurred and VJ Day - the end of the war with Japan ended was on August 12, 1945 - the day that Stephen DeWitt Taylor, Weldon and Gayle’s first born, arrived. I had been with Gayle and Weldon for quite a while taking a class at BYU summer school, can’t remember what it was, and stayed on because Gayle was going to have a baby and Weldon was traveling all over Utah as the Director of the OPA and it was decided that I would stay with her in case she needed someone, if he were not home. I had my 15th birthday that summer

"They lived in an apartment that was just off the main street of Provo, UT and across the street from the most wonderful bakery you could imagine called The Provo Bakery--and just up the street was the public library. Around the corner were two local theaters and I was in heaven. I slept on a day bed and they had a Murphy bed that pulled down from the wall. It was a very small apartment! I had a friend by the name of Ruth Fish who was a year older than me and worked in the box office of one of the theaters

"We had a big front porch that was originally the porch of the old, big house that had been divided into several apartments. The Dixon’s lived next door - why I remember their name is that on one late afternoon, Gayle was sitting in a metal porch/lawn chair and I was lying on the daybed in the living room and it was raining quite hard. It was in early August. The lightning struck the huge cottonwood tree in front of the Dixon’s house and it came down the tree and raised the sidewalk about two feet. Gayle was thrown from the chair she was sitting in on the porch not 15 feet from the lightning strike and I was thrown off the daybed in the living room just a wall dividing her sitting on the porch and me lying on the daybed. We were both in shock following the strike and we all gathered - the Dixon’s and Gayle and I to assess the damage done to the tree and the sidewalk. No one even looked at Gayle who was in the last days of her pregnancy. It was later that night that she went to the bathroom and her water broke - she called me and asked me what we should do! I was so dumb that I could not even hazard a guess as to what was happening. We stood there and giggled, as I remember. She called the Doctor and he said go to the hospital and then we tried to get hold of Weldon who was in Southern Utah and finally did and he started driving home. It was not till the next day that Gayle had Stephen - Weldon got home okay and it was VJ Day - what a momentous time it was - I remember fireworks going off and people shouting and honking automobile horns.

"I was told later that Papa and his road crew built a huge fire and shot pistols into the air in Cavecreek, AZ, where they were building a road, to celebrate the war’s end.

"It was during the times that I visited Gayle and Weldon that I got to know more about my sister. She had left home, going to live with Aunt Madge and Uncle Guy, upon graduation from High School and worked in San Francisco. It was hard for my Mother, I found out later, to let her go away so young (17) and basically be gone from home from that time on. Mother thought that Gayle was ashamed of her roots in our home and in Mesa and wanted to have a more exciting and cultured life and that was with Aunt Madge and Uncle Guy who had lost their only son from Meningitis a few years earlier - he was an eagle scout and the apple of their eye and it was tough for them to lose him and it was always my Mother’s thought that they “stole” Gayle from her. They had a very citified life, opera, ballet, lots of entertaining and involvement with the LDS church in San Francisco and it also being a jumping off place for servicemen into the Pacific area of WWII. I don’t know if they ever cleared the air with what happened. That was strictly between Gayle and Mother.

"I remember that hospitals kept new Mothers in the hospital for about 10 days and Gayle was beside herself having to stay there. I was not quite old enough to go in by myself so decided to sneak up the back stairs with a hamburger to make her happy. I got there into the room and before too long was noticed and told that I could not be there and had to leave! What a bummer and my sister was so hungry and wanted a good hamburger. I had to leave but she got the hamburger I took to her."

26 Oct 2018

Picto Diary