See attached photo.

Back row: Harold adn Howard Grimme (I might have them switched arround as I always had a hard time keepiing them straignt)
Front row: Evelyn Mueller, Anna Grimme (mother) and Joyce 

This is home farm of Erwin and Anna (Hauck) Grimme, Joyce's parents.  It is my understanding that Joyce was borm on the home farm. 

    I met Joyce at Bible Study Fellowship in 1994, and we have been friends ever since. We would meet every Wednesday, and afterwards would often go out to lunch together to bring each other up to date on what was happening in our lives. Joyce had a beautiful, sincere desire to learn more about God. She also greatly loved her sons and wanted to faithfully support them in their endeavors. Joyce was a dear friend who also loved and supported my family. I will miss her. But God gives great comfort and hope in the Bible. One of my favorites verses is II Corinthians 5:8: "Away from the body is to be at home with the Lord."  Joyce is now enjoying the presence of God and will be for all eternity!

I have to preface this with the fact that I am the famous (perhaps infamous) nephew from South Dakota. That is said with “tongue in cheek.” I was born the same year that Aunt Joyce graduated from Tyndall High School in 1951. My mother Evelyn and Joyce were sisters. They had a close relationship and communicated by phone all the time. My Mother passed away in 2002 and Aunt Joyce really missed her weekly phone calls with my Mom.

Of all the Grimme relation, I was perhaps closer to Aunt Joyce than anyone else. My family often traveled to California for vacations to visit Joyce and family. And Joyce and family would often come to South Dakota in the summer on vacations. They always stayed at my Mom’s house.

Over the years, Aunt Joyce and I shared a lot. We talked about our personal successes, our hopes and dreams. We also shared the struggles, hurts and failures in life. We reminisced a lot about the past. I remember our fitful laughter sessions, in which Joyce was unable to stop laughing to the point of tears. Always great fun.

When I visited California, she would always show me all of the Critters in the back yard. Since you can never take the “farming” out of a farmer, there were always pigeons, doves, fish and other critters to be fed and taken care of in the back yard. In addition, there were always a few cats to keep everyone company. Just like her mother, Anna (my grandmother), she loved plants and liked to show them to me.

This finally leads me to the story I’d like to share. About 10 years ago when I was visiting Aunt Joyce, we decided to take a trip up to see her cabin in the mountains. Joyce had wanted some wild flowers and small seedlings to plant in her back yeard. Of course, it is illegal to take any wildlife or plants from a National Forest. And the trip to the cabin was through San Bernardino National Forest. During this trip, if we would see an interesting wild flower or little tree or sapling, we would pull over. We would check to see if anyone was coming from either direction. After all, what we were doing was illegal. But certainly the forest would not miss one tiny plant. We had cannisters and dirt with us. I would get out and dig up the wild flower or sapling and replant it into the cannister. We did this repeatedly on our way to and from the cabin. When we finally returned to Arcadia, we had all of these cannisters of wild plants. The intention was to plant them somewhere in the yard. To be honest, I believe most of them ended up dying, and I flew back home before they ever got planted. But it was one of those fun things I remember that Joyce and I did together. We laughed and laughed about what we did that day until the tears flowed. That is one small story out of many that I have of my Aunt Joyce. Those were the good fun times.

I shall miss my Aunt and our phone calls. Now that Aunt Joyce has “crossed the Bar”, she and my mother can once again visit and talk as much as they did when they were both here on earth. 

(The photo enclosed shows Aunt Joyce arranging flowers in the kitchen. I gave her these flowers the day I left to fly back to South Dakota in 2008) 

+ Dan Mueller 3 October 2016

It's been almost 7 years now, since Guy and Joyce came to see me at my CrossFit gym in Monrovia.  I was struck immediately by Joyce's adventurous spirit and willingness to have a go at "the rowboat" (our Concept 2 rowing machine.)  Over the years, she always said yes to whatever exercises I designed and never complained or concerned herself doubting if she could do what I asked. She always believed in herself and her ability to get the job done.  

After our sessions, we would spend time icing her knee and she would tell me the most awesome stories.  Sometimes they were about her passion for her gardens and trees.  Including a few that made my heart race... where she was climbing around trying to prune trees. She'd just laugh and make me promise not to tell Guy, LOL!  OMG, she was such a quietly wild woman.

Another of my favorite story themes were when she would tell me about her doctor visits.  She would invariably tell the staff she was a "CrossFitter", I'm sure just to see how high they would raise their eyebrows.  Oh my gosh, how we'd laugh!  

I have only a couple of photos of her... one shows her beautiful style. I could always count on her coming to session in workout clothes that were not only appropriate, but really pretty and always perfectly coordinated.  She was definitely a woman of style.

The second photo is my personal favorite.  It shows her rowing right along side one of the gyms' toughest athletes.  I don't think it even occurred to Joyce to be at all intimidated by the woman.  Instead, she just chatted with her while they rested. When I showed her the photo afterwards, and shared how rare was her spirit, she just smiled and gave me the okay to show the photo to others.  I find that so very inspiring. 

No doubt, I am just one of many who have these wonderful memories of this grand and lovely lady.  I will forever cherish her living example of aging with grace, spirit and passion.  She was one fabulous woman and I will miss her forever.