Joyce W. Ruys
1924-Feb. 25, 2014
Woodside and Palo Alto, California
Submitted by Patricia Stearns

Joyce West Ruys passed away on February 25th, 2014, after a short illness. She was 89 years old.

A Midwestern girl with Czechoslovakian heritage, Joyce was born in 1924, in Sioux City, Iowa, one of five children, where she attended Central High and subsequently graduated from Nursing School.

While working as a surgical and obstetric nurse in Los Angeles, she met a young doctor, Frank C. Ruys and they married in 1947. The newlyweds moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, eventually settled in a ranch house in Woodside, and raised five children. She is remembered as a keen mind, a great beauty, a pragmatist with the ready laugh, and a generous and warmly captivating mother, never missing one of her children's or grandchildren?s major events.

Possessing an adventurous spirit, Joyce traveled extensively, with an immense interest in art and art history. She would often read several books at a time, conversing well on most any subject.

Joyce never missed the Daily Crossword and Jumble in the SF Chronicle and she was a fierce bridge player. A memorable gourmet cook, Joyce was a passionate aficionado of Julia Child, and a member of Medical Friends of Wine.

Joyce enjoyed her children, her community, and traveling. She would often stay up late into the night making Halloween or ballet costumes, themselves a work of art, the next morning off to chair a PTA meeting at the local school.

Creative ideas came easily to her, as she plunged into years of fundraising for her favorite projects, including Woodside Elementary School, Sequoia Hospital, the Peninsula Symphony, Friends of the Library, and other organizations.

During her term as President of the Ladies Auxiliary of the Peninsula Symphony, she instituted a hugely successful Oktoberfest fundraiser called The Heurigen, an Opera Ball and Fashion Show, as well as personally hosting many of the guest performers, some of whom have remained friends since.

In her later years, after moving to Palo Alto, she volunteered at the Palo Alto Parental Stress Hotline, and donated generously to many charities. She was much loved, and will be greatly missed.

Joyce is survived by her children, Elaine Ruys of Portland, Oregon, Patty Ruys Stearns of Trinidad, California, Willem Tim Ruys of South Bend, Indiana, Jennifer Gill of Redwood City, and Renee Iverson of Kirkland, Washington, and her brothers Richard West, Larry West, and sister Marian Deal and her sisters-in-law Constance Ruys, Fieke Ruys, Marti West, Jeanne West, Nancy West, as well as her grandchildren Megan May Stearns, Kelly E. Stearns, Christopher Ruys, Vincent Gill, Emily Iverson and Jocelyn Iverson, and great grandson, Giovanni Ghinami.

She is pre-deceased by her husband, Frank C. Ruys, and her brother Jack West.

Tags: arts/media, public service