JOY PATRICIA BURKEY

Joy Patricia (Smith) Burkey, 82, of Florence, OR passed away on November 30, 2020 in Florence OR. She was born on April 18, 1938 in Columbus OH, the daughter of the late Theophilus Louis Smith and Gladys Gertrude Stevens.

Joy grew up in Pomeroy OH and graduated from Pomeroy High School in 1956 as the highest achieving female student. It was her grandfather’s dream that she study the pipe organ, and at 14 she began pipe organ studies. She played for churches and choral groups in Ohio and Kentucky from age 16. While at Ohio State University, she accompanied the College of Dentistry chorus; she graduated with a degree in Dental Hygiene in 1958.

Joy continued organ studies and by 1964 Joy was the organist of the First Christian Church of Chico where she remained for 20 years.

Joy later served as an organist, pianist, and piano accompanist in Chester and Paradise CA before moving to Florence in 2003 where she was the organist and choir accompanist at the Presbyterian Church of the Siuslaw until her retirement in December 2014.

Joy also worked as a dental hygienist and an elementary school office manager.

In addition to her parents, she was predeceased in death by her sister, Sue Ellen Smith Zirkle, and her husband Gerald Duane Burkey, Sr.

There will be no memorial service; she was remembered during the worship service at the Presbyterian Church of Siuslaw in Florence on Sunday, December 6.