Joyce (Clark) Walker Obituary (1925 - 2020)

Joyce Clark Walker passed away in her sleep on Saturday evening, August 1, 2020, at the age of 95. She was born April 17, 1925, in the original American Fork Hospital (51 East Main-now city office building) to Hyrum Winfield and Sarah Shipley Clark. She was the second of five children: Carol, Joyce, Hoover, Janice, and Roland. Mom had deep roots in Pleasant Grove. Her great-grandfather, George Sheffer Clark, was the leader of the settlers who came to the area under the direction of President Brigham Young, and he named Pleasant Grove. She lived in and attended schools in Pleasant Grove, graduating from high school in 1942. Service in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints began for Mom when she served a mission with her parents and older sister, Carol, in San Jose, California. She was three at the time, and her Mother often told her that they met a lot of people because of her. Mom served in the Church in many capacities throughout her life, including as a Relief Society President, always a visiting teacher, and serving in the Young Women, and Primary auxiliaries. She served for nine years as the Junior Sunday School Coordinator, and she loved that so much, she often quipped that the only way they could release her was to discontinue the calling-which was exactly what happened! She and Dad served as Family History Missionaries in the Roanoke, Virginia Mission. Until she could no longer safely walk from the parking lot into the Mt Timpanogos Temple, she did two temple sessions every Tuesday morning (starting at 5:00 a.m.) for years and years. The temple workers would call her "the Walker with the walker." After World War II, Mom married her sweetheart, Lee Gordon Walker, on May 17, 1946 in the Salt Lake Temple. Dad graduated from BYU in 1949, and he began his career as a teacher. They had five children, and except for two years in Fillmore, lived in Pleasant Grove until 2004 when they sold the family home to a niece, and moved to American Fork. Mom is loved by everyone who knows her, and is known for her quick wit, her devotion to the gospel of Jesus Christ, her example of love and acceptance of others, her love of family, her love of service, her creativity, her sewing/quilting skills, and her sense of humor. She was a real Mother and an out of control Grandma. She will also be remembered by the many she "adopted" and included as members of her family. Her home, the "Walker Bed & Breakfast" was always open to any of our friends who were visiting from out of town. She will be greatly missed, but we know she is now enjoying a wonderful reunion with family and friends who have graduated before her. Mom is survived by her five children: Lee (Mimi) Walker, Sandy; Janice (Paul) Legler, Kaysville; Ellen (Roger) Cornell, American Fork; Jolynne (Curtis) Walker, Layton; and Marla (Dale) Thompson, Grand Junction, CO; Roland Clark (brother); and Carol Anderegg (sister). She has sixteen grandchildren, forty great-grandchildren, and one great great grandchild. Mom is preceded in death by her eternal companion, Gordon; her parents, her brother, Hoover, her sister, Janice, and her grandson, Beau Cornell. Due to Covid-19 restrictions a private family service will be held. Condolences may be sent to the family at www.olpinmortuary.com.