Joyce N Bowden

Joyce Louise Noble Bowden passed peacefully in her sleep on August 25, 2019.

Joyce was born in 1940 to Harold and Louise Noble, in Detroit, Michigan, where she attended Southeastern High School and graduated from Wayne State University with a BS in Nursing. She then attended Naval Officer Training in Rhode Island, earning her rank as Ensign. Upon graduation, she asked to be stationed in the sunniest of places and ended up in San Diego, where she served in the Navy Nurse Corps at Balboa Naval Hospital from 1962-1963. In 1962, she met Charles “Chuck” Bowden, and they married in 1963. Joyce and Chuck shared 56 years together, raising their children, Cheryl and Bob, in El Cajon.

Joyce taught nursing and served as an administrator for 30 years at the Grossmont Health Occupation Center. While raising her family and working, Joyce found time to earn her Master of Education from United States International University and post-graduate work at San Diego State University.

Joyce retired from teaching during her battle with breast cancer in 1993. However, never one to be idle, she founded Health Educational Consultants, conducting state testing for California Nursing Assistants for the next 19 years. Joyce loved teaching, her students, and working with people.

She loved to travel, was an avid reader, and loved holidays with her family, especially Christmas. To Joyce, family was everything. She loved being a wife, mother, sister, aunt, great-aunt, great-great-aunt, and most of all, grandma. Chuck was her rock, her children, her joy, and her grandchildren the lights of her life. Her love of family extended to all around her and to the many, many people who loved her and felt her love as well.

She is survived by her husband Charles; daughter, Cheryl Bowden- Renna; son, and daughter-in-law Robert and Karen Bowden; brothers, and sisters-in-law Richard and Sharon Noble, Howard and Myra Noble; grand-daughters, Catelyn Renna and Keely Bowden; numerous nieces, nephews, and great and great-great nieces and nephews, as well as many friends that have become family over the years. She loved you all. Joyce will be greatly missed.

A family memorial will be held on October 14th, and a celebration of life will follow. In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent to Sharp Hospice Care.