Joyce P. Ross

After a good long life, Joyce Ross, 93, of Aiken passed away peacefully in her home surrounded by family on April 19, 2023. Joyce was intelligent, clear-sighted, determined, and generous. She was an optimistic proponent of knowledge, truth, and fairness. Her astuteness and candor were sometimes disconcerting. Her quirky sense of humor was endearing. Joyce enjoyed a wide circle of friends, but her greatest pleasure and gratification came from the family she and her husband, Chuck, nurtured to enjoy, trust, and support one another and to carry forth their parents’ ideals. Born on April 17, 1930 to Phil and Geneva Phillips, Joyce Clair Phillips grew up in a suburb of Detroit, Michigan, where she met her future husband when she was editor and he was a reporter of the Redford High School student newspaper. After marrying in 1952, Joyce and Chuck Ross settled in North Augusta, South Carolina in 1953 when Chuck began working for DuPont as a chemical engineer in the new Savannah River Laboratory. As their family grew and their children grew up, Joyce was a homemaker. With her husband and her children, Joyce also was active in numerous social and civic organizations, including square dance, bowling, bridge clubs, Boy and Girl Scouts, swim teams, and Rainbow Girls. When their children were older, Joyce and Chuck enjoyed traveling across the country and in Europe. In the same year that the eldest of her four children graduated from high school, Joyce fulfilled her ambition to earn a college degree, the first in her birth family to do so. Joyce’s college major was Elementary Education. While teaching second grade at North Augusta Elementary School, Joyce was asked by the Superintendent of Education to design the first gifted-student program to be instituted in Aiken County public schools, which she named SOAR (Students on Active Research). Joyce’s college minor was History. While living in Delaware where Chuck served at DuPont Headquarters during the 1970s, Joyce was employed as a senior guide in the Winterthur Museum, a former DuPont Estate. In 1980, after Joyce and Chuck returned to the CSRA, Joyce was approached by the Aiken County Historical Commission to convert a dusty jumble of unauthenticated objects and materials into a legitimate museum. As its first Director, Joyce – as well as many dedicated volunteers she recruited, trained, and mentored – established the Aiken County Historical Museum in the Winter Colony estate, Banksia, and nurtured the museum into the professional institution it is today. Joyce was an active member of Trinity United Methodist Church in Aiken for over 40 years Both Joyce and Chuck volunteered their time and energy to church governance and outreach activities in addition to participating regularly in worship services and study groups. Joyce also was a charter member and active in local Chapter 85 of the Philanthropic Education Organization (PEO) Sisterhood that provides educational opportunities for women. Joyce lost her husband of 52 years, Chuck Ross, in 2004 and grandson Alex Bush, 24, in 2010. Joyce is survived by her daughter, Sheryl Bush, and by her three sons and their wives, David and Joni Ross, Dan and Sally Ross, and Gary and Heidi Ross. She is also survived by six grandchildren, six great-grandchildren, and three step-grandchildren. A celebration of Joyce’s life will be held Saturday afternoon at 3 o’clock from Trinity United Methodist Church, 2427 Whiskey Road, Aiken, SC 29803. Rev. Tyler Strange and Rev. Dr. Rodney Powell officiating. The family will receive friends at the church one hour prior to the service. Private interment will take place at Pineview Memorial Gardens. Pallbearers will be Michael Doane, Danny Herring, Cecil May, Scott Bosley, Jim Kannenberg and Harvey Campbell. Memorials may be made to the Epworth Children’s Home, PO Box 50466, Columbia, SC 29250.

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Joyce P. Ross

April 17, 1930 - April 19, 2023