Joyce Jean Lavelle

Joyce Jean Lowery LaVelle, 69, of Chalk Bluff, passed away at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas on Wednesday, June 21, 2006. Surrounded by family and loved ones, Joyce walked into the arms of our Heavenly Father at 5:38 pm after a brief illness. Funeral services will be held at 10:00 am on Tuesday, June 27th at Wilkirson-Hatch- Bailey Funeral Home Chapel, 6101 Bosque Blvd. with Father Tom Niemira officiating. Burial will follow at Rosemound Cemetery. The family will receive friends and visitors from 6:00 – 8:00 pm, Monday, June 26th at the funeral home. Joyce, along with her twin sister Loyce, was born in Waco on April 4, 1937 at Providence Hospital to Percy M. and Ruby Jewel Gibson Lowery. She attended Waco schools and met the love of her life, James W. LaVelle, Jr. while he was stationed at James Connally Air Force Base in Waco. They married on August 27, 1954. Jim’s military career took them to many exciting places stateside and overseas to North Africa and Italy where their one and only child, James William LaVelle III was born in 1957. Upon her husband’s retirement from the United States Air Force, the LaVelle’s settled and took residence in Joyce’s beloved hometown of Waco. Joyce worked several years in the medical profession at Providence Hospital before retiring to stay at home full time to compassionately care for her disabled husband Jim and beloved elderly “Uncle Carl”. Her compassion and love for people extended to everyone she met, especially to the many veterans and staff she befriended at the VA Medical Center in Waco where her husband Jim resided the last few years of his illness. Joyce never met a stranger and was a lifetime member of the Disabled American Veteran’s Auxiliary and member of Saint Joseph’s Catholic Church in Bellmead. She returned to college later in life and received her Associate in Applied Science degree in Mental Health at McLennan Community College. Joyce was preceded in death by her beloved parents, Percy and Ruby, her loving husband of 44 years, Jim Jr., sisters, Bonnie Ruth Lowery, Pam Heckscher, Linda Dillon, Mildred Ann Goss and brothers, Kenneth Deskin and Darrel Eugene Lowery. She is survived by the joy of her life …her loving and caring son, James Jimmy W. LaVelle III of Dallas, her brothers, Robert C. Claar and wife Patti of Plano and Johnny Ray Lowery and wife Doris and her dearly loved twin sister, Loyce Ilene Ellis and husband Joe of Waco. Many nieces and nephews who loved their “Aunt Joycie” very much also survive her. Also missing her will be best friends Pattye Mayfield, Steve Meyers, Vida Perea and special neighbors Kim and Scott Jukes. And last but not least …her beloved and faithful feline companion, “Rozee”. Memorials in Joyce’s name may be made to the Waco VA Medical Center or to the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration at Our Lady of Solitude Monastery, PO. Box 92, Black Canyon City, AZ 85324 The family invites you to leave a message or memory in our “Memorial Guestbook” at www.wilkirsonhatchbailey.com. Wilkirson-Hatch-Bailey