Joyce Lucille Finstad Smotherman

Joyce Lucille Finstad Smotherman: An amazing woman with a remarkable legacy.

Joyce was called back home by God, donning her wings during her sleep in the early hours of a quiet Saturday morning on Oct. 30, 2021.

She was at home, surrounded by her family when she passed, where she was much-loved and will be sorely missed by them, her many longtime friends and all who were blessed to know her.

Born in Bradley, South Dakota, on Sept. 27, 1928, she was the youngest of three children, and grew up working on her family’s farm.

After graduating from high school, Joyce fell in love with and married an adventurous man named Fred Brown. Together they had a daughter named Linda Kay Brown, born in 1948.

In 1951, Fred convinced Joyce to leave South Dakota and those cold winters behind for the beautiful Pacific Northwest, which he had discovered earlier as a long haul truck driver.

They settled in the little town of Warrenton, which would become Joyce’s lifelong home. Unfortunately her marriage to Fred didn’t survive near that long, ending in divorce in 1954.

In 1955 she met, and later married, commercial fisherman Eddie Smotherman. Together they had the last of her two children, a son named Lawrence Lee Smotherman, born in 1957.

Joyce was born in Depression-era America at a time when most women did not work, much less seek higher education, but Joyce was not most women.

After high school, she attended Aberdeen Teachers College, where she earned her teaching certificate before returning to her hometown, where she taught class in a one-room schoolhouse.

Moving from South Dakota to the fishing village of Warrenton was a different way of life for Joyce, and she quickly learned the skill of picking crab at the local cannery to help support her family.

She was one of just a few trailblazing women who were the first to demonstrate they could work alongside men and earn a “man-sized income” to support her family whenever Eddie’s fishing income went through lean times.

She and Eddie enjoyed a happy life together until his untimely death in 1969.

In 1973, she met the last love of her life in the person of John Oliver, an ex-professional hunting guide from Idaho, turned commercial fisherman, turned ironworker, known by fellow fishermen simply as “The Cowboy.”

He taught her how to shoot a gun, hunt, fish and RV camp in the wilds of Eastern Oregon on extended hunting trips. With John, she learned to love the great outdoors until his untimely death in 1996.

The last years of her life were quiet and peaceful. She enjoyed the company of friends, family and an ever-growing number of grandchildren.

People who knew her will probably remember honking their car horns and waving to her as she sat on her deck enjoying her friends, her flowers and her animals on warm sunny days.

What else can you say about such a warm and wonderful person, other than the world is a little colder and darker without her.

She was a strong, determined, hard-working, kind, compassionate and generous woman with an overflowing heart of gold that knew no limits for her family and friends.

When she was angry, you knew it because it was rare, but she was quick to laugh, and her usual expression was a sincere and genuine smile that was infectious. We all love you, Joyce. We will be missing you until we see each other again.

She leaves behind her daughter, Linda Selvy, of Warrenton; her son, Larry Smotherman, of Gulf Breeze, Florida; two stepchildren; five grandchildren; three step-grandchildren; nine great-grandchildren; and one great-great-grandson.

A memorial service has already been held at The Mission Christian Fellowship in Warrenton.