Joyce Edna Chambers

SOUTH BEND - Joyce Edna Chambers passed away peacefully at the age of 94 on July 7, 2019, amid the love of her family and care from Heart to Heart Hospice and Creekside Village of Mishawaka, Indiana.  The fifth of nine children, Joyce was born April 10, 1925 to Gertrude Hertha (Vetterman) Kalahar and Thomas Raymond Kalahar in Huron, South Dakota. The family moved to a farming area near Little Falls, Minnesota, where she grew up.  At a one-room schoolhouse, she enjoyed learning at an advanced pace by listening to older students’ lessons.  A great reader, and patron of libraries and bookstores, she passed her love of reading to her seven children and then to twelve grandchildren who loved their tradition of choosing new books on visits with Gammy.  Joyce and her future husband, Bud, met in high school, dating prior to Bud’s service as a pilot in World War II and writing during the war.   Joyce lived in Denver for a time and worked for an insurance company, reveling in her love of dancing at big band wartime dances with friends. With Bud’s return from service and Joyce’s return to Minnesota, their love deepened.  She worked at an artificial limb company and Bud earned a degree at the University of Minnesota.  They married in Minneapolis on June 11, 1949 and moved to South Bend, IN in September 1949 for Bud’s engineering position at Bendix Aircraft Brake and Strut.  Living first near Leeper Park, they built their longtime home in 1956 on Ribourde Drive in South Bend.  Joyce’s vocation as mother spanned decades with their seven children born between 1950-1970.  She kept an organized and clean home and spent more time ironing than women today can even imagine. Famous for her sweet rolls and homemade jellies, jam and breads, Joyce was an accomplished cook.  Her kitchen table was a happy, engaging and filling spot for family dinners and countless chats with neighbors and friends of all ages.  Joyce focused on exercise through many active years of flower gardening, daily sit ups and after-dinner walks with Bud.  She loved their porch, yard and home.  She sewed many of her own and her children’s clothes, crocheted doilies and flowers, and, in retirement years, created and sewed over twenty intricate and beautiful quilts for the family.  She taught her children to harvest fruit, clean, cook and do laundry, and her daughters to sew, with many a shared hour spent cutting out patterns, processing fruit for the freezer, and engaging with her children’s friends and activities.  Joyce and Bud were longtime members of Holy Cross Catholic Church where they served as Eucharistic ministers.  She taught Sunday School/CCD and was a Boy Scout and Bluebird/Campfire Girl parent.  Joyce and Bud loved dancing, cards, tile rummy, movies and summer trips to Minnesota where she hosted extended family picnics at their cottage. Special times Gammy treasured with her grandchildren included elaborate tea parties, Lake Michigan beach visits, family dinners on the porch, visits to their homes, and bedtime reading.  Joyce was married for 64 years to her beloved husband, Warren Dale (Bud) Chambers, until his passing on October 30, 2013.  She is also preceded in death by siblings (and in-laws), Norma (Richard) Molde, Oakley Kalahar, Shirley (William) Perrin, Marlin (Lorraine) Kalahar, Veryl Kalahar, and Thomas (Audrey) Kalahar. Joyce is survived by her children, Dianne Chambers, Daniel Chambers (Doreen Arcus), Mary Ellen (David) McTigue, Carol Chambers, Colleen Chambers (Anthony) Sasson, Jennifer Chambers (Craig) Kleinhenz and Robert (Michelle) Chambers; her grandchildren, Patrick (Rachel) and Louie Chambers, Shannon McTigue (Joseph) Kerby, Matthew, Dylan and William Vendryes, Mariah (Christopher) Eisner, Grace and Ben Kleinhenz and Piper, Evie and Harrison Chambers; her two great grandchildren, Lily and Jane Chambers; and siblings Keeven (Alyce) Kalahar and Patrick Kalahar and sister-in-law Mary Kalahar.  Private arrangements are planned for the family.

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