Mother, grandmother, social worker, singer

Joyce Waters died November 4 of natural causes at her daughter’s home in Alta Loma. She was 102.

Born Mona Joyce Burge on March 20, 1922 in Judsonia, Arkansas, the only child of Orion and Mona Burge, Joyce attended Lindenwood College in St. Charles, Missouri, working in the school cafeteria to help with expenses at the end of the Great Depression.

Upon graduation in 1944 she soon got a job with Trans World Airlines, allowing her to see much of the world, which she always said she could not have afforded otherwise. Eventually moving to Los Angeles, she met her future husband, Claremonter Arthur Waters, at a church social. He asked her out for coffee. She famously stated she did not drink coffee. Family history indicates that they somehow worked out the beverage stalemate.

In the early 1950s she got a job working in the offices of Pomona College where, she recalled later, student Kris Kristofferson was setting the campus abuzz.

She and Arthur married in 1959 and lived in a house on the acreage he owned in Webb Canyon, renting out his other cottages there for extra income. They also ran a large chicken farm on the hillsides of the canyon until a poultry disease wiped out their investment. The couple both eventually went to work for Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services as social workers in the Pomona office. Her focus was helping families and children in difficult circumstances which, while satisfying, took quite an emotional toll, she admitted later. She retired from social work after 20 years, in 1987.

She was an avid pianist and singer, and performed as a tenor with the local Sweet Adelines barbershop harmony chorus for many years, as well as an award-winning spinoff quartet called Sounds Great.

The couple were longtime members of United Church of Christ, Congregational in Claremont, and she continued attendance into her mid-90s.

Her family remembers Joyce’s desk, in her retirement, covered with letters to be sent all over the world on behalf of Amnesty International to despotic governments holding political prisoners, demanding their release. “She was wired for compassion, wired to help people,” said her son George, “no matter how long the odds. She was going to take the shot.”

In her retired years the couple also enjoyed traveling by car to all corners of the United States, to national parks, world’s fairs, as well as to Europe and Canada.

She lived in her own home in northwest Claremont until her mid-90s, then moved to Claremont Manor for several happy years until the COVID-19 lockdown in early 2020 caused all events and social interaction there to cease. Disheartened by the mandatory isolation, she moved in with her daughter Diane and granddaughter Summer in Alta Loma.

She was preceded in death by her husband of 47 years, Arthur, and is survived by her daughter Diane; son George; grandchildren Mitchell, Summer, Emily, and Bri; and great-granddaughter Harley.

A gathering of friends and family to celebrate her life will occur at a future date. To be notified when that happens, please email george@georgewaters.net.

Donations in her memory may be made to unicef.org.