April Luncheon Meeting

Joyce Denke is from the small town of Riesel near Waco, Texas where she and her husband enjoy their retirement on the family farm.  She now spends three months at their home in Ruidoso,NM  every summer enjoying their beautiful cool weather.

Joyce graduated from Mary Hardin Baylor College in Belton, Texas with a degree in sociology and a minor in physical education.  After graduation, she was named to the Outstanding Young Women of America.  She joined the Red Cross to go to Vietnam after college where she served one year as a “Donut Dollie” from Oct 70-to Oct 71.

Upon her return to the states, Joyce continued to work for the Red Cross in the Hospital Recreation Program at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas .  She then went “North” to Kansas City, Missouri where she was the Red Cross youth director.  She was promoted to Southeastern Area Youth Director in Atlanta, Georgia where she provided leadership to a ten state area.

Joyce moved back to Texas to work in a new field.  She was among the first women to become a typewriter repair person for IBM !  She laughing remember one time when she had a typewriter all torn apart and a man walked by and said, what’s the matter,  honey, lost your lipstick?”

Joyce was the owner of an independent insurance agency in Groesbeck, Texas for 28 years. During this time, she was active in the Chamber of Commerce and several county committees and boards.