Joyce Christensen

Joyce Besley Christensen, 85, died October 18th, 2011, in Novi Michigan. Joyce was born on August 11, 1926 in Salt Lake City, Utah, daughter of Cecil Shores Besley and Stephen Henry Besley, MD. Joyce’s love of travel started in 1936, when at age 10, Joyce, her parents and older sister Gladys went on a 2 month excursion to Japan and China. After her parents’ deaths when she was 13, she lived with her sister and brother-in-law, Gladys and Woodrow Raleigh in Evanston Illinois. She attended University of Utah, where she received a bachelor’s degree. At the university she met James Boyd (Chris) Christensen, of Centerfield, Utah, and they married on March 22, 1947. They lived in Evanston, Illinois while Chris was completing his doctorate in anthropology. They moved to Detroit, Michigan in 1952 where Chris began his academic career at Wayne State University. They had two sons, Carl Woodrow, born December 3, 1952, and Stephen Besley, born June 6, 1954. The family spent a year in Morogoro, Tanganyika from 1959-1960, where Chris was doing research as a Fulbright Scholar. After they returned from Africa, Joyce earned her Masters of Library Science degree from Wayne State University. In 1964 the family moved to Southfield, Michigan, where Joyce was a teacher and librarian in the Birmingham Public School System until her retirement. Joyce was an avid traveler, both before and during retirement, taking many trips abroad, including Europe, South America, and China. Her husband Chris had visited over 90 countries, and Joyce was not far from that number, having forgone a few of Chris’s trips to remote places that “only an anthropologist could love”. In the early 1970’s, when Chris went to Ghana on sabbatical, and her sons were off at college, Joyce began her lifelong enthusiasm for miniature furniture and dollhouses. Joyce was active in many charitable organizations including Altrusa and Smile Train. In 2003 Joyce moved to Fox Run Village in Novi, where she made many friends, served on the Philanthropic Committee, volunteered at the Treasure Chest, and was involved with the community’s book club. Joyce is pre-deceased by her husband James Boyd (Chris) Christensen and her sister Gladys Raleigh, of Salt Lake City, Utah. Joyce is survived by her son, Carl Christensen, MD, Ph.D., married to Cathy Christensen, FNP of Ypsilanti, Michigan; her son, Stephen Christensen, Ph.D., married to Elizabeth Kobliska of Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota; and her niece, Jill Raleigh Hooper, married to Randy Hooper of Logan, Utah. A memorial reception to celebrate Joyce’s life will be held on Sunday, October 23rd, 2011 from 4 to 6 PM in the Ascot Room at Fox Run Village, 41000 13 Mile, Novi, Michigan. The family requests memorial contributions be made to www.smiletrain.org, an international charity to help children who suffer from cleft lip and cleft palate; or the Fox Run Student Scholarship Fund, which provides scholarship for students employed at Fox Run Village.

Joyce Christensen

October 18, 2011