Joyce Ames English

Aiken, SC - Joyce Ames English, 85, loving wife, mother and grandmother, passed away Monday, September 19, 2016. Born in rural, north central Pennsylvania in August 1931, she was a farmer's daughter who never enjoyed feeding chickens, made friends easily, enjoyed all school activities, and graduated high school with twenty classmates in 1949. Joyce was fond of tall, dark men, motorcycles, airplanes, and life. The man she met and married in 1952 was a former Army Air Force pilot, biker, farm boy and high school Physics teacher. They were inseparable. When her husband, working as a handy-man for the school district, after his retirement, fell through the high school auditorium ceiling onto the floor and broke his back in 1986, leaving him paralyzed, she, almost single-handedly watched over him for 18 years until his death. Diagnosed with a blood cancer, she moved to Aiken in May 2010 after being accepted into a cancer treatment program at Georgia Health and Sciences Cancer Center in Augusta. This program and its staff were instrumental in providing an additional six years of life to Joyce. Joyce, above all, enjoyed family and friends. She was incredibly proud of her son, his wife, and their kids. Attending medical staff, during her final hours, probably said it best, "She was feisty". Survivors include her sister, Audrey (Pat) Fischler of Wellsboro, Pa., her son, Ed (Joyce) English of Aiken, three grandchildren, Sean (Stephanie) English of Murrell's Inlet, Ashley (Gram) Praytor of Pawley's Island, and Erin English of Aiken: three great grandchildren, Grayson English, Holden English and Miles Praytor. A memorial service will be held Wednesday, September 21st at 2:00PM at Shellhouse-Rivers Funeral Home, on East Pine Log Road. The family would like to thank GRU Cancer Center, Hitchcock Place, and Tidewater Hospice for the special care they provided. SHELLHOUSE – RIVERS FUNERAL HOME, 715 EAST PINE LOG RD., AIKEN, SC To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Joyce Ames English, please visit our flower store.