Joyce Underwood Morehead

Joyce Underwood Morehead

May 19, 1937 ~ April 27, 2021

Joyce Underwood Morehead passed away peacefully on the morning of Tuesday, April 27, 2021 following the abrupt onset of acute leukemia. She was a few days short of her 84th birthday which she would have celebrated on May 19th.  Illness struck suddenly during her pending move from Fruita, Colorado with her husband of almost 61 years. They planned to be near a daughter and her family in the community of Daybreak in South Jordon, Utah along the Wasatch front.

Surviving are her husband, Dr. James R. Morehead; and their three children, Linda S. (Jared) Nusbaum of Albuquerque, NM; Amy K. (Mark) Tenney of South Jordan, UT; and Dr Jonathan J. (Leah) Morehead of Arvada, CO; and her sister, Marian (Arthur) Budge of Ogden, UT. Joyce’s family legacy includes seven wonderful grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, all of whom she dearly loved.  She was preceded in death by her parents and her brother, Glen S. Underwood. 

Joyce was born on May 19, 1937 in Salt Lake City, Utah, to loving parents, James T. Underwood and Constance M. Shaw and was second in a trio of siblings including a vivacious older sister, Marian, and a sure and steady younger brother, Glen. She was educated in Ogden City Schools and Weber College. She earned her Bachelor’s degree from Utah State University and was a gifted elementary school teacher. She taught in Ogden City Schools and in Clarendon Hills, Illinois, a Chicago suburb, to “put her husband through” four years of dental school. Her love for children’s literature was paramount and she devoted over 20 years following retirement to volunteering in an elementary school library.

Joyce loved music and became a gifted pianist and organist and served many years as an accompanist in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The development of deep and lasting friendships was a remarkable trait for her–she truly loved people and was respectful of their individual natures. She was slow to find fault and quick to forgive.

Joyce was married June 6, 1960, to her high school sweetheart, Jim, in the Salt Lake City Temple, where they were sealed for time and all eternity through holy priesthood ordinances. Their remarkable six-year courtship began their junior year in high school, continued through two years of junior college, and concluded following Joyce’s final two years at Utah State and Jim’s LDS Mission in Australia. She had a deep faith and trust in her Father in Heaven and His beloved Son, Jesus Christ. She willingly served in numerous Church callings including Relief Society President, Primary President and Adult Sunday School teacher, but she found particular fulfillment serving as a teacher and leader of Young Women in the Church.  In Joyce’s more senior years, she and Jim served a senior couple Public Affairs Mission in Taiwan and Outer Mongolia for two years. She will be greatly missed and lovingly remembered as a truly devoted wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, friend, and a classy and regal lady in her walk through mortality.

Funeral services will be held on Saturday, May 15, 2021 at 11 a.m. at Lindquist’s Ogden Mortuary, 3408 Washington Blvd. Friends may visit with family on Friday from 6 to 8 p.m. and Saturday from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. at the mortuary. Interment, Lindquist’s Washington Heights Memorial Park, 4500 Washington Blvd.

Services will be live-streamed and available by scrolling to the bottom of Joyce’s obituary.

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