In Memory: Joy Hall

Joy Delaine Hall, 79, died peacefully surrounded by her children, grandchildren, and great-grandson on June 6, 2018, at Wyoming Medical Center in Casper.

Joy was born to Lafayette Louis and Julia Margaret Newcomer on June 16, 1938, in Ironton, Missouri. She grew up on a series of farms in and around Potosi and graduated as the valedictorian of Potosi High School in 1956. In her youth she developed a lifelong love of agriculture and animals.

Joy met Randall Ray Hall at the University of Missouri at Columbia. Upon graduating in 1960 with a degree in Home Economics, she and Ray were married and moved west to follow Ray’s career with the U.S. Forest Service.

They had two children: Julia (1961) and Randy (1964). Over the years they lived in a variety of locations in Wyoming, Colorado, and Oregon. In 1977 they moved to Cody, which became their home for the next 40 years with sabbaticals first to Washington, D.C., and then Utah.

Joy was a faithful Christian and a longtime member of the First Presbyterian Church of Cody, serving on the Board of Deacons and singing in the choir for many years. Through the years, Joy worked as a home economics teacher and real estate agent, but her true passion was raising Morgan horses.

She was a member of both the American and Wyoming Morgan Horse Associations. She was also active in the Cody community, singing with the Sweet Adeline’s, serving as an election judge, participating in community concert ticket drives, and as a breast cancer survivor, supporting Relay for Life.

Joy loved her family. She truly enjoyed some of life’s simple pleasures, and was always generous and eager to help others. In her later years she was happiest with a cup of tea, a good book, and her dog curled up at her feet. She will be greatly missed by her family and friends.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, and her brother, Merrill Louis Newcomer.

She is survived by her daughter Julia (Michael) Smith; her son Randy (Marnie); several nieces, five grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.

Memorial donations may be made to the First Presbyterian Church of Cody (Montana).