Joyce Harris Lake, 92

Joyce Lake passed away Jan. 9, 2013, from natural causes, at the Immanuel Lutheran Home.

Joyce was born Aug. 5, 1920, in Campsey, a suburb of Sydney, Australia. Her parents were Thomas and Edith Mae Harris.

After graduation she apprenticed as a seamstress in one of the big apparel/dress stores in Sydney. When World War II broke out, she went to work as an administrative specialist for the U.S. Army at their Sydney headquarters. It was not long after she met David Lake, who was on convalescent leave from New Guinea.

They were married November of 1943 in Sydney. In late 1944, she boarded ship with other war brides bound for the United States. In the states, she met David's sister Ione, who was stationed at Fort Hauchucha, Ariz. Then she traveled to Harlowton, Mont., where her father-in-law David Lake Sr., lived. This was a big step for a girl from Sydney with a population of 3.2 million to a town that was several thousand at the time.

In 1947, she and David moved to the Flathead, where they first lived in Columbia Falls, then to Kalispell. She loved Australia and never gave up her citizenship there. But she also loved the Flathead and cherished all of the friends she met in the Overseas Wives Club.

She kept up her sewing and knitting and also was an avid gardener. Through the years she accumulated blue ribbons for her canning, knitting and sewing at fair time. She was noted for her sewing prowess and was employed by two different women's shops in Kalispell. David often joked about the time she made skirts for five elephants at the Shriners’ Circus.

She was a member of the Rose Society and several years had achievement roses. She also served for 20 years as a volunteer at the Immanuel Lutheran Home.

She was preceded in death by her husband David, and brother Harold.

She is survived by her sons, David and Shawn; four grandchildren, Matthew, Andrew, Craig and Christopher; and four great-grandchildren, Tucker, Kyle, Hunter and Ryder.

To honor her wishes, there will be no service and her ashes will be scattered in her beloved mountains later this spring.