Joyce

The new year is off to a rocky start. 

On Saturday, 10 minutes before storytime, a man we know came up to the desk, looking upset. Ivan is deaf, and the long-time partner of one of our best library friends, who we knew was having a long and difficult recovery from pneumonia. We hurried over to him, and he held up his phone, where he had typed: Joyce died this morning at 12:43am at the hospital. It was a punch in the gut. We all started crying, my coworker came around the desk to hug him. He vocalized and gestured, trying to tell us how it happened - he was sleeping... he got a call... he was not with her when she passed - but his hands were shaking too much to type out more. Joyce has been part of the library family since before I started working here, she organized the library art shows, made beautiful scrapbook-style book marks to give away at the desk, and gifted us books of stamps at the holidays because she worked as a postal carrier until she retired. She loved Ivan fiercely - they found each other later in life, after their children were grown. She was with him through his fight with cancer last year. Surviving all of that and then losing your partner is unspeakably cruel. 

He sent this picture:

Joyce, you will be deeply missed.