Joyce Eula (Sutton) Sisney

Joyce Eula Sisney, daughter of the late Gusdavis “Gus” and Lelia May (Hunt) Sutton, was born on July 14, 1916 in Grenola, Kansas, and passed away on December 21, 2013 at her residence in Rolla, Missouri, surrounded by her family. She had made her home in Rolla for the past three years.
Joyce grew up in Kansas and was united in marriage to Cecil H. Sisney on July 19, 1934 in Hurley, Missouri. Four daughters were born to this union: Marilyn, Ava, Diana, and Judy. They lived in California for six years and raised their family in Kansas and Missouri.
They made their home in Golden, Missouri, where Joyce was a 4-H Leader for almost five years and was a member of the Golden Extension Club.
While living in Neodesha, Kansas, she was a member of the Wilson County Choralaires. She then moved back to Missouri, to the Cassville area where she was an L.P.N. for the Cassville Hospital for eleven years.
Following the death of her husband in 1965, Joyce moved to Fresno, California where she lived for fourteen years. She moved to Springfield, Missouri in 1980. While living in Springfield, she worked for the Red Cross for over a year and was a volunteer at the St. John’s Regional Medical Center before moving to Mtn. Grove in 1982.
Joyce then went to work for the funeral home, living upstairs for twenty-seven years and working in the office. The staff at the funeral home became her extended family, where she was known as “Grandma Joyce.” She was a kind and sweet person to those she met. She enjoyed telling stories, talking about her family, and sharing stories about her life over the years. She never met a stranger and was always dressed up with matching jewelry. She enjoyed going to Diana’s Hair Salon each Friday to get her “hair twigged,” as she called it.
She was known as an accomplished seamstress, making clothes for her daughter’s as they were growing up. She also loved baking, cooking, especially her homemade noodles, and sewing and over the years. She made several quilts and satin pillow cases, which she liked to give away to those she loved.
She also enjoyed making the funeral home guys breakfast over the years. She was always willing to lend a helping hand, whether it was to iron something, sew on a button, or whatever any of them needed from her at the time.
For several years, she attended the First Baptist Church in Mtn. Grove. She was always willing to make pies for any occasion when her church family would call her.
Besides her parents and her husband, she was preceded in death by two brothers: James Sutton and Theron “Bud” Sutton; six sisters: Leona Hoover, Frances Williams, Phyllis Schutt Pat Lipinski, Ruby Reed, and Dorothy Turner; and by one grandson: Jeff Cantrell.
She is survived by her four daughters: Marilyn Laverty and her husband, Jim, of Springfield, Missouri, Ava Carder and her husband, Howard, of Mtn. Grove, Diana Spillman and her husband, John, of Phoenix, Arizona, and Judy Terry of Rolla, Missouri; one sister: Betty Wilcox of Chico, California; nine grandchildren: Jeanne Walton, Michael Laverty and his wife, Maurica, Steven Laverty and his wife, Donna, Kim Dake and her husband, Mark, Anita Terry, Sandy Sederburg and her husband, Jim, Peggy Brown, John Spillman, Jr., and Kenny Spillman; eighteen great-grandchildren; nine great-great-grandchildren; several nieces and nephews; great-nieces and great-nephews, extended family, funeral home family, and many other relatives, neighbors and friends who will sadly miss her.

Burial:
Mineral Springs Cemetery, Cassville, Missouri at 2:30 PM on Thursday, December 26th

Memorial Contributions:
Wright County Children’s Home c/o the funeral home.