Joyce Sue Peterson, 77, of Springfield, died Friday, Jan. 7, 2022, at Maples Care Center.

Joyce was born Nov. 6, 1944, in St. Louis, to Robert and Isobel Steury. Soon after her birth, Joyce and her family returned to their native Springfield, where she graduated from Central High School in 1962 and attended Southwest Missouri State University. She was distracted from her studies in the spring of 1963 when she met Glen Peterson, an SMS student from Crocker, at the Fisher’s Hi-Boy drive-in. When Glen went out West to work the wheat harvest that summer, the two exchanged a flurry of “somewhat torrid” letters that cemented their relationship. The two were engaged that December — after Glen graduated from what is now Missouri State University — and they married a month later, on Jan. 25, 1964. They would have celebrated their 58th wedding anniversary this month. “Never has there been a better wife,” Glen said upon her passing.

When their two children — Janet Lynn and Eric Charles — were school age, Joyce began her career in civil service. She worked for the Missouri House of Representatives; the Eldorado, Illinois, water department; the Crocker school district; and retired as city administrator of Crocker, MO, after more than 20 years of service. She had many career highlights, but took great pride in having secured a grant to install a new fitness trail in the Pulaski County town.

Joyce lived a full life and loved everything — travel, dancing, reading, cooking and so much more. She had a sharp wit and sense of humor and the ability to make anyone feel at home. Above all, she loved her family fiercely.

Joyce is survived by her husband, Glen; daughter Jan Peterson and her husband, Greg Lawson, of Springfield; son Eric Peterson and his wife, Amy McClelland, of Little Rock, Arkansas; and many other relatives and friends.

She was preceded in death by her parents and her sister Patricia Ramos.

Private graveside services at St. John Swede Cemetery in Pulaski County are planned for a later date.

Joyce may have set a county record for the number of stray animals she rescued and loved over their years on the Peterson family farm, near Crocker. Memorial contributions may be made in Joyce’s name to the Humane Society of Southwest Missouri, 3161 W. Norton Road, Springfield, MO 65803.

Cremation services have been entrusted to Greenlawn Funeral Home South.