Home

Joyce Louise Saltzgiver, 77, of Mission Viejo, California, our familya’s most treasured and beloved wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, passed away on July 6, 2013. Joyce was born May 17, 1936 in Aurora, Illinois to Lee Edward and Margaret Hope (Douglas) Phillips.

Joyce enjoyed singing and the performing arts in her youth. She graduated from West Aurora High School in 1954 and worked as an office and sales clerk. She married Ronald Walton Saltzgiver on December 29, 1956 because he was easy going and nice (her words, precisely). They were happily married for 57 years.

While raising two sons, Jeff and Dan, Joyce was PTA President, a cub scout den mother and she sang in the church choir. She opened The Etc. Shop, a yarn store, where she also taught knitting classes. Joyce and Ron managed Phillipa’s Auto Parts, the family business. Ron and Joyce moved to Santa Monica, CA in 1981, where their son, Dan, attended GIA. Joyce worked in retail and then opened Shana Shoes in Rancho Palos, Verdes. Ron and Joyce moved to Mission Viejo, CA in 1988 to be closer to their grandchildren. Joyce managed an inventory service company and then a hospice care facility and thrift shop. Joyce was diagnosed with cancer in 1990, which she beat and remained cancer-free the past 20 years!

Ron and Joyce moved to Casta del Sol in Mission Viejo in 1995, where Joyce actively and honorably served on the Casta Board of Directors for the past 10 years as President, Director, Treasurer, and Secretary, consecutively. She served on the Facilities, Architecture and Greenbelt Committees, and co-chaired the Social Committee for 2 years and became known as the candy lady at Board meetings.

Joyce chaired an Ad Hoc Needs Assessments Committee and the Casta Anniversary parties as well as the Newcomers parties. She was chair of the Save Casta del Sol Golf Course Committee. She also moderated the City of Mission Viejo Candidates Night, held in Casta. The past few years she also served as liaison to the City of Mission Viejo. Joyce, wholeheartedly, attended as many committee meetings as time allowed. Her goal was to keep the Casta del Sol community looking like the garden spot that it is. Her key interest was to get more volunteers for the committees to keep them growing.

Joyce was also a positive force behind the City of Mission Viejo. She was first appointed to the Community Services Commission on January 3, 2011 for the City Council City of Mission Viejo where she served her two-year term and was then reappointed on January 7, 2013. Her most recent project involved walking the trails of Mission Viejo, thus providing a Walking Trails Map for the community. She actively participated with the Mission Viejo Elks Ladies Club.

Joyce attended the Presbyterian Church of the Master in Mission Viejo. She loved to host and entertain in her home within the Casta community and with her family. She was a member of the Italian-American Club and held several Bunco and Hand & Foot game nights. She is well-known for her signature Christmas stockings. Since 1959 she had lovingly hand-knitted 365 stockings for family members and close friends. Joyce dedicated her life to her family. Nothing was more important in her busy schedule than preparing special dinners and hand-made gifts, attending her children and grandchildren’s sporting events, music and performing arts, rock concerts, birthdays and graduations, including her college grandsons fraternity pub crawl! Nothing surpasses her dedication in baking and mailing several dozen cookies every single week for 6 years to her grandson, while he was away at college. She truly leaves behind a legacy for all college grandmothers to follow.

She was momentously admired and respected by her family, friends and the community. Despite her limitations in times of illness, her never ever give up attitude and perseverance was an inspiration to countless people who had the privilege and honor of knowing her. She was loved and honored by many whose lives she personally touched.

Joyce is survived by her husband, Ron; sons, Jeff and his wife Tracey; Dan and his wife Jean; grandsons, Shane and Aaron; Chase and his fiance Rebekah, and great-grandson, Skyler. Until we are with you again, in heaven, we will cherish beautiful memories of you in our hearts and souls.

Joyce, Mom, Grandma, Great-Grandma ~ We Love You Forever