Her Sister's Keeper

Jeanette - 
   I am Joyce Saunders daughter. Thank you for your kind words to Mom. I wanted to let you know that she passed away on May 8, the Friday before Mother's Day. She was in the hospital for a couple of weeks. It seemed like she was getting better so she went to a rehab facility to get stronger. But sadly, she passed away peacefully on the following Friday. I know she loved going to the gym and I am certain she knows of your sweet words. Thank you for being her friend. We wish you and your family a wonderful new year. Jan Hodson - P.S. Dad is doing well, We are moving him to an assisted living facility where he can get a little bit of help.
   I didn't know. They live in West Haven; we don't take the Ogden paper.  

Joyce Kunz Saunders

January 19, 1929 - May 8, 2015

Joyce Kunz Saunders, 86, loving wife, devoted mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and sister, passed away peacefully on Friday, May 8, 2015 due to complications from Melanoma Cancer and Congestive Heart Failure. In her last days she was attended to by her loving husband, daughter, and son.

She was born on January 19, 1929 in Ogden, Utah, the oldest daughter of Fredrick Samuel and Bertha Maree Olsen Kunz. 

Joyce was sealed on June 27, 1956, to Lynn Roy Saunders in the Salt Lake City LDS Temple and together they had two children, Jan and Gary.

She was a graduate of Ogden High School and attended Weber College. She severed a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Northern States Mission serving most of her time in Halifax and Nova Scotia. Before her marriage she worked as a beautician for many of the prominent women of Ogden. She loved music and played the Hawaiian steel guitar with the group “Aloha Sugar Mill”. She worked a few years with her sister Afton in the Dee Play School with her young children at her side. The majority of her life she was a devoted stay at home mother. She enjoyed traveling with her husband to various parts of the world. She loved watching her hummingbirds that gathered at her home. She enjoyed gardening and could grow any plant. She was an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Served in many callings including Ward Relief Society President, Ward Primary President, and visiting teacher. She was a member of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers. She volunteered at the LDS Family History Center and enjoyed doing family history. Her greatest joy was in her posterity. She left a legacy of love, joy, happiness with just a little spunk. Her cheery outlook on life will be greatly missed.

Joyce is survived by her husband, Lynn; daughter, Jan (Elden) Hodson; son, Gary (Kathy); eleven grandchildren; eleven great-grandchildren; sisters, Afton (Victor) Castlemain and Marilyn Griffin (Donald deceased).  She was preceded in death by her parents.

Funeral services will be held on Friday, May 15, 2015 at 11 a.m. at Lindquist’s Ogden Mortuary, 3408 Washington Blvd.  Friends may visit with family on Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m. and Friday from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. at the mortuary.  Interment, Lindquist’s Washington Heights Memorial Park, 4500 Washington Blvd.

Joyce and I were soulmates, it seemed. We were writing our mothers' histories at the same time. Joyce is the same age as my oldest sister; our mothers were born the same year and had their first baby the same year.

I think about her every day when I finish my morning stretches with the Figure 4 we always ended our aerobics classes with that we took together for 20 years. Lying next to each other on our backs with one ankle over the opposite knee, we somehow bonded. Our lockers were close to each other. We did yoga, body pump, and aerobics together. At one time, we had a group of 6 or 8 older women on the back row. We stuck together, got each other's equipment, and sometimes amazed the younger ones with our strength and tenacity. Joyce was always considerate of Eddy and knew Amy. They came to our 50th Wedding Anniversary celebration and we attended her husband's 80th birthday party.

A Star Sister's Keeper

Jeanette Hugh, January 21, 2002

I'm quite impressed at how much Joyce,

my friend at the gym,

helps her younger sister.

After her workout at the gym,

she goes over and helps her sister.

Her sister has rheumatoid arthritis;

yet she plays the organ for funerals

several days a week,

and is Relief Society President in her Ward.

It seems inconceivable that she could do

all those things

when someone else has to do for her.

Joyce doesn't just help with the housework

and walk her dog,

she paints and does other weighty

and laborious tasks,

even moving furniture.

It's not as if she

doesn't have a home and family

of her own to maintain.

She is in the Stake Relief Society Presidency.

"If every sister

could have a sister like you,"

I often say to Joyce, . .

or

"You are truly

your sister's keeper."

Thursday she was telling me

that her sister was going

to have surgery

on her feet the next day

and they had spent the day before

shopping for flare legged pants for her.

then she mentioned how

after her sister's husband left for work,

she would stay with her and help her do all the tasks

she now couldn't do.

"You are such a wonderful sister.

I mean, you are busy too, yet you do so much for her."

"I'm not busy," she whispered.

"I don't have anything to do."

Then it dawned on me

that she is helping her sister

to fill her life.

It really wasn't a sacrifice;

it was a privilege.

Still,

she could be doing selfish things.

She chose to work

rather than play all day.

More importantly,

she chose to help the living,

to make life better for someone else.

She chose to help her sister.

In my estimation,

she's a

Star Sister's Keeper.