Joyce J Seaver

Joyce J. Seaver, age 88, Raymond, SD, widow of Howard, died peacefully in the Golden Living Center at Clark on Monday morning, December 3, 2012. Visitation will be held on Sunday, December 9, from 4-6PM at the Furness Funeral Home at Clark and will continue after 9AM on Monday in the funeral home chapel. Funeral services will be held on Monday, December 10, at 10:30 AM in the Furness Funeral Home Chapel. Following services, a dinner will be served in the funeral home fellowship area prior to going to the Greenlawn Cemetery at Redfield for burial. Pastor Donna Nickels will officiate with Dorothy Fuller as pianist and Donna Davis as soloist. The honorary casketbearers will be her grandchildren and great-grandchildren along with the members of the Logan community, Friendly Circle, which she was a member of for over 50 years. The active casketbearers will be Ralph & Carol Hurlbert, Joyce Skelton, Francis Hass, Bonnie Gilbert Smith, Carla Cornelius, Pat Nuttbrock, Bob Gergen, Tom Riddle and Jessie Boss. She was born on a farm southeast of Raymond, SD as Joyce Jeanette Franzen, on September 18, 1924, the daughter of George and Lois Emma (Motley) Franzen. She was their only child. She attended the Logan Consolidated School riding the bus/wagon pulled by horses. While in school she was active in debate and class plays. Her mother died when she was 13, so from then on, Joyce took over the house chores. She left school before graduation to help on the farm doing everything from cooking to mending to helping out thrashing. On July 25, 1942 she met her husband-to-be, Howard Seaver, in Clark on a Saturday night at Mac's Café. The two courted until he left for WWII. In December of 1942 she left on a train bound for Wichita Falls, TX where Howard was stationed at Shepherd Air Force base. She worked as a waitress there and soon married Howard at the base chapel on February 3, 1943. During his time in the service, Joyce was able to travel with him most of the time, especially in the US. To this union, two children, Beth and Allan were born. Beth was born in Alexandria, VA in July of 44 and then in the spring of 1945, Joyce and baby daughter Beth returned to the farm as Howard was sent to Azores air bases and in September of 45, Allan was born on the same farm as his Mother was. Howard joined the family after his discharge in December of 1945. In 1951 they moved into Raymond where she has lived until moving into the Golden Living Center in January of 2009. While in Raymond Joyce was known to many as the person that could clean a chicken in minutes, raising hundreds of them in town over the years. She also cleaned other wild game birds for many hunters, and worked for countless others cleaning, painting, wallpapering, laying carpet and most anything else. Joyce was also proud of her made from scratch angel food cakes, made for many birthdays and other special occasions. Her fried chicken meal for her family and many others will long be remembered. In addition to raising spring chickens, gathering eggs and being busy baking, she loved her cats, flowers, gardening, sending and receiving cards to and from hundreds, entertaining and showing off her family members with recent pictures. Joyce promoted education for family and others and was proud of attending South Dakota State University Hobo Days for over 50 years. She was a member and former secretary of the Logan Community - Friendly Circle, the Raymond Cemetery Association, the Logan and Clark United Methodist Church - being baptized in the Logan Church, served as the Watertown Public Opinion Raymond reporter for over 40 years and was a 4-H leader of the Raymond Sunshine Club for 15 years. Preceding her in death were her parents and husband, Howard, in 2001. Survivors include her daughter Beth Seaver of Aurora, CO, a son, Allan (Sherry) Seaver of Sheboygan, WI, 2 grandchildren, Jason (Tammy) Seaver of Bloomington, IL and Wendy (Robert) Brinkmeier of Huntsville, AL and 3 great-grandchildren, Lauren Seaver and Grayson and Emerson Brinkmeier. Memorials would be preferred to the Clark County Historical Society, Raymond American Legion or the Clark United Methodist Church. Furness Funeral Home of Clark is serving the family where there is an on-line registry at www.furnessfuneralhome.com.