Joyce Cecile Walsh, 98, passed peacefully, just as dawn was breaking on August 14, 2023.

She was born on September 10, 1924, in Iron Mountain, Michigan, to Canadian immigrants Alfred and Albana Trudell. The youngest of 8 children, Joyce moved to Madison, WI several years after graduating High School where she lived with her sister Dorothy and her husband Ray Messner. It was in Madison that she met and married Herbert C. Walsh.

Joyce and Herb raised their six children in Madison, and it was during that time that she began to earn her stripes for sainthood. She was a great mom, a gourmet cook and a tireless home maker. After the kids had all flown the coop, she moved to Green Bay, WI to be close to several of her daughters who were living in the Fox River Valley. She built a cozy little home where she lived happily for over 30 years, alternating her time between her many and varied interests, her friends and neighbors, and being an amazing Grandma to her Grandkids.

Joyce never missed an opportunity to look on the bright side of life. She awoke every morning thanking God for another day in which she could strive to act in a manner pleasing to him. While she suffered her share of physical hardships over the years, compounded by her frequent foibles as a professional klutz, she persevered and overcame all obstacles!

Joyce found joy in many things including her love of gardening, travel, cooking, reading and decorating her home, changing décor for each season of the year. Her greatest joy she reserved for her faith, family and friends.

She shared her Catholic faith with her children from their earliest memories and continued to encourage herself and others throughout her life. Joyce had hundreds of books in her library on the Faith and strove to live in imitation of Christ. She literally prepared her whole life for her passing, hoping and trusting in the salvation promised through Christ's Passion.

She had a zest for life that was evident to everyone who knew her. Not one to miss a good time, she rarely turned down an invitation to participate in get togethers. She loved to share stories of her early life in Iron Mountain, and her love of her sisters, brother and extended family members. She never lost her enthusiasm or gratitude and even in her last few months, when she was unable to walk unaided, she could be counted on to give a "Woo Hoo" on a fast ride in her wheelchair, or upon opening her blinds and seeing the sun shining through the trees, exclaim "Oh how beautiful, God is smiling on us"!

In her later years Joyce had several favored sayings, among which were "I'm a tough old bird" or "This too shall pass". She'd recall her daughter Debbie asking, "Mother, do you have to be such a drama queen?" Another was "Do you have any ice cream?" and, my personal favorite "I don't suffer silently, if do I don't get any attention"! Finally, her personal, oft quoted mantra "Old age AINT for sissies".

Joyce lived a good, long life and did so, to the best of her ability, in a manner pleasing to God.

Joyce is preceded in death by her parents, Albana and Alfred Trudell, her sisters Cloe, Dorothy, Edith, Verna, Lorraine, and Gen, and her brother Joe; Daughter Debbie (Mike) Brunmeier, and former husband Herbert Walsh.

Joyce is survived by five children, Darcee Walsh, Denise (Norsen) Steen, Lee (Brenda) Walsh, Charles (Kim Murray) Walsh and Kim Walsh; twenty-one grandchildren, Melanie, Josh, Jared and James Brunmeier, Noel and Nate Steen, Ben, Tim, Jon, Greg, Sam, Josh and Mandy Walsh, Thomas, Signe and Keifer Walsh, and Jennifer, Jaclyn, Stephanie, Katherine and Mary Winkel; and 26 Great-Grandchildren.

Joyce's visitation will be held on Saturday, August 26, at Pfotenhauer Funeral Home, East Town Location, 2379 E. Mason St, Green Bay, WI from 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM. A service will immediately follow at 12:30 PM. A family only burial will be held at Allouez Catholic Cemetery.