Senior Spotlight: Joyce Dowd

City Girl With Canadian Roots

Joyce Dowd was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan with Canadian roots. Her parents, as well as her sister Judy, were all born in Canada. Although her father was an attorney in Detroit, Joyce’s parents dreamed of owning a farm and followed through with that dream by purchasing a farm when Joyce was just six years old.

She spent much of her childhood at the farm house, and even went to school in the small town outside Detroit where the farm was. Joyce has fond memories of spending summers at the farm house that her parents renovated. The house started out rough, but her parents made a gorgeous transformation. That’s no doubt where Joyce got her amazing decorating skills from… Her room here at The Inn at Belden Village is so lovely!

A Love for Language & Literature

Joyce attended The University of Michigan where she majored in English Literature and French. She taught as an English teacher for quite a few years before going back to school to earn her Master’s in counseling, which she then used to become a high school counselor. The job was very rewarding for Joyce as she got to meet a lot of students from different walks of life, and no two days were ever alike. 

She Was a Sorority Girl, He Was a Frat Boy

A smile erupts across Joyce’s face when she talks about her late husband. The two of them met in college at The University of Michigan through their involvement in Greek Life. Joyce was in a sorority, and her husband was in a fraternity while in law school. For dances or events, sorority girls were often paired with frat boys based on height. Since Joyce and her husband were both fairly tall, they happened to be paired together for an event in 1952.

After some talking, the pair figured out that both of their fathers were attorneys. However, Joyce was a city girl from Detroit and her husband was a small town boy from Massillon, Ohio. Despite their differences in home towns,  the two became great friends and started dating, and were soon married the following year in 1953. Both of them graduated college in 1954, Joyce with her Bachelor’s degree and her husband with his law degree. 

Traveling the World

Joyce’s husband joined the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corp, which took him and Joyce to Fort Benning, Georgia in 1955 and then on to Wurzburg, Germany. Joyce was pregnant at the time, so their first son David was born in Germany. She also has three other children: Cynthia, Douglas, and Mark. Joyce is thankful that Mark and Cynthia live in Ohio so she is able to see them quite often.

Joyce and her husband lived in Naples, Florida for 10 years together after their children had all gone off to college and settled in with their new families. It was after Joyce’s husband passed away from Leukemia and she started to experience some health complications herself that Joyce and her children decided she should come to The Inn at Belden Village and be close to her son Mark.

Joyce has been living with us since September of 2016 and has enjoyed it so far. “It’s a nice place. The staff does a great job of taking care of us,” says Joyce. We’ve thoroughly enjoyed having Joyce with us the last couple of months, and we look forward to the years ahead!

Learn More About The Inn at Belden Village

Is senior assisted living right for you or your loved one? Schedule a free lunch and tour of The Inn at Belden Village to see what our facility has to offer, or contact us for more information.