Joyce A. "Judy" Graham

Once upon a time in 1942 a beautiful baby girl was born named Joyce Rogers (aka Joy, aka Judy). She was the oldest of 7 children that grew up on a farm, raised Catholic, and attended Sacred Heart Academy in Mount Pleasant Michigan.

When she graduated, she got a job as a legal secretary and one day at lunch she went in search of a music album. She met a handsome man (Jack) who graduated from St. Phil and owned a record store in Mount Pleasant. They dated, fell in love, got married, and moved to a little house Battle Creek.
Joyce and Jack had four wonderful children – three boys and a girl. They lived through many happy times and some sadness, but were a strong family that loved each other. In 1972 they moved to Augusta where she lived ever since.

Joyce was a full-time homemaker and stay-at-home mom who attended several local Catholic churches. She loved picnics, family get togethers, and always had the family Christmas celebration at her house with her big hand-picked Christmas trees and decorations. She was renowned for her city chicken, chili, potato salad, goulash, cabbage rolls, deviled eggs, and cream puffs.

She loved animals, gardening, nature, cared for many animals, dogs, cats, deer, and birds. She loved interacting with her grandchildren, baking cookies, walking the trails behind her house, going to the lake, and the bird sanctuary.

One of her favorite pastimes was playing complex and intricate practical jokes on April Fools day each year. She would select a different relative, child, grandchild, or friend each year and plan a joke that would fool even the most sophisticated mind with wild tales of winning the lottery to alien abduction.
She was there for Jack when he fought cancer and heart disease. He died in 2004. Over her final decade she fought breast and thyroid cancer and eventually succumbed to a very painful fight with spinal cancer.

She was preceded in death by her husband Jack, her parents (Vern and Margarete), two brothers (Joe and Pat), two grandsons (Jeremy and Bobby), and a daughter-in-law (Kim). She leaves behind her kids John (Karen), David (Katy), Tom (Tammy), and Mary (Dan), and grandkids Stephanie, Andrew, Stephen, Cassandra(Kodi), Alexandria(Beck), Jessica (Josh), Zach, Ellen, and great grandkids Logan, Riley, and Lorelei.

A graveside service to celebrate Judy's life will be 1:00 p.m., Friday, February 17th, 2023 at Memorial Park Cemetery. Arrangements by the Farley Estes Dowdle Funeral Home & Cremation Care. Personal messages for the family may be placed at www.farleyestesdowdle.com.