Joyce Albertson passed on the 24th of August 2025 after living a life full of friends, family, and travel to numerous countries around the world. She was born Florence Joyce Lyall to Donald Ralph and Florence Gladys Lyall on September 22, 1922, the first of three children. Joyce lived through the great depression, World War II and the first human on the moon. She vividly remembered her parents losing their life savings of $5,000 when the local bank failed during the depression. It made such an impression on her that for all her life, though she enjoyed nice things, she took care to waste nothing or be frivolous in her spending.
She and her sister, Jean, and brother, Lewis, grew up in Paradise Valley south of Livingston, Montana, on a ranch her parents owned. It was here she developed her life-long love and respect for nature, and particularly her strong bond with horses which she made use of during ranch work and rode for enjoyment. She enjoyed hiking, seeing wildlife and in later years skiing. Yellowstone National Park was a special place for her since her father had driven stagecoach there early in his life. A good student, she graduated a year early from high school in Livingston and earned a 2-year teaching certificate from Western Montana College in Dillon in 1941.
It was here she met her future husband, James H. Albertson, and his service in the Navy during WWII found them living at various bases around the country including Lakehurst, New Jersey. After the war they lived briefly in Seattle where James completed his master’s degree before they moved to Butte and he began teaching English at the Montana School of Mines while Joyce was a homemaker. The smell of her baking bread was wonderful and in fact Joyce took a lot of pride and even joy in cooking sumptuous meals with dessert for family and friends.
She and James had three children before they divorced. At the time Joyce began her extended career as an educator, though she had taught for over a year in Ronan after graduating from Dillon. She first started kindergarten at a local church and later was an elementary teacher in the Butte school system while attending Montana State University in Bozeman during the summers. She received her B.A. from there in 1966 and in 1980 earned her M.S. from Northern Montana College. Joyce had a life-long interest in learning and would at times attend night classes after work to learn skills as various as speaking French or making lovely art projects from copper sheets. She also enjoyed sewing handwork and making excellent candy which she enjoyed sharing with friends and family.
It was during this time Joyce began traveling. Always interested in people and cultures Joyce found much contentment over the years as she traveled to Australia, numerous European countries, Russia, and China to name some of the countries she visited. And in fact, over the years Joyce was able to enjoy a visit to every continent except Antarctica. She later moved to Great Falls and continued her career as a teacher. She was strict but always took a real interest in each of her students’ education so they would have the opportunity for a full and productive life.
After retiring in 1988 Joyce continued to travel, cook interesting and tasty meals, and stay involved with her church. Faith and belief were an integral part of who Joyce was and she was a dedicated church member for her entire life. Her sense of responsibility and desire to be useful to people with whom she came in contact led her to join numerous organizations and serve them as an active member. Among these were the community Concert organizations in both Butte and Great Falls, volunteer work with the Salvation Army to help with donations and serving on the Board of her Great Falls credit union from its inception. She felt especially honored to be a member of Delta Kappa Gamma, a professional society of woman educators. Another group she particularly enjoyed being a part of was Friendship Force which gave her the opportunity to stay at private homes overseas to see a culture up close. Likewise, members from foreign countries came for a visit to her home. Many of these people became part of her life as she corresponded with them over the years.
Joyce is survived by her three children; Cheri, Greg and Jon, three grandchildren; Anna, Jacob and Nicole, and one great-grandchild; Avi.
Service Schedule
Services are pending at this time or no services will be held. If available, please see obituary for more information.
Service Schedule
Services are pending at this time or no services will be held. If available, please see obituary for more information.
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