Joyce Weaver

Joyce Weaver quietly left this earth to be with Jesus early Friday morning, July 10, 2020. Joyce was born March 12, 1924, “across the pond” in Bouth, Lancashire, England. Her father, George Frederick Carruthers left for the United States soon after her birth.  In 1925 (after George found a job) Joyce, her mother (Sarah Ellen) and her sister (Gertrude Alice) boarded a ship and headed to Baltimore.

At the age of 10, Joyce’s dad passed away. A year later, Joyce, her mother and sister headed back to England. Joyce would live with an aunt then grandmother while continuing her schooling. Her mother took what little money she had and opened a boarding house for a British navy commander, airmen and seamen.

Due to the war, at age 18, Joyce had to do “work of national importance”. She chose nursing. She began this 3-year training at a small hospital but soon got homesick and left! She later decided to go to a larger hospital where she finished her training.

Joyce and her mother returned to the U.S. onboard the Queen Elizabeth. Her father’s cousin sponsored their journey and met them in New York. They settled in Baltimore where Joyce began maternity nursing training. Soon after she passed her boards, Joyce got sick. She had been exposed to TB.  As she was being treated in a sanitorium for the TB, all she could do was worry about her mother because Joyce had been the one who provided financially for them.  She pulled strings and talked the head of nursing at the sanitorium into getting her mother a job at the local children’s hospital.  She also helped arrange for an apartment for her.

Joyce would put her nursing degree to work and, at the age of 40, meet the love of her life, Roy Weaver. Roy worked aboard Air Force One. She loved telling that he was onboard the night Mrs. Kennedy was flown from Dallas in her pink suit!  Joyce and Roy were married a month after they met. Joyce was quick to tell you how proud she was of Roy and his service to our country.

They would later live in Germany and Destin, FL, before settling in Jacksonville, AR, when Roy retired. Roy thought he wanted to raise pigs and cattle. Joyce said it didn’t take long to figure out they didn’t need to be doing that! So they moved to a second location in town where they had a daily challenge as to who could get to the mailbox first!  Roy wanted to order out of the catalogs and Joyce wanted to throw them away!

After Roy’s death in 1998, Joyce would return to central Arkansas where she became a resident at Parkstone. She stayed there until her physical health required that she be moved to Woodland Hills.

Preceded in death by her husband, SMSGT Roy Weaver, USAF Retired, her parents and her sister, Joyce is survived by her two stepsons, John Weaver (Ann) and Chuck Weaver (Phyllis) as well as her favorite sister in law, Donna.  She is also survived by her nephews, Richard, Nigel & Geoff. She will be greatly missed by “her girls”, Mary Alice Hughes, Lisa Bamburg and Emma Purifoy.

Viewing will be 10am – 4pm, Tuesday, July 21, at Smith Funeral Home (NLR). Graveside service will be at 10am Wednesday, July 22, at the National Cemetery in Ft. Smith. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association, per Joyce’s request.

From “Her Girls”: Your goal was 100 and we thought you would make it! Thank you, Joyce, for your wit, your stories, your hugs and your love for us.  Our lives will forever be better because of you.  Until we see you again…