1942-2020
Joyce Laurent Norlin, of Janesville, died on Sunday, June 21, 2020, of complications from cancer. She was 78.
Joyce was born to Francis W. and Grace King Laurent on March 23, 1942, in Washington, D.C., where Francis was the Special Assistant to the Judge Advocate General of the Navy. She went to school in Georgetown, and lived in the wartime capital.
The Laurents moved to occupied Germany in 1946, where Francis helped the U.S. government reorganize German industry. Joyce attended schools in Minden and Berlin.
Her _rst Wisconsin address was a small stone house on a farm near Thorp. She attended a one-room school, one of the state’s few remaining. She led her 4-H Club, won county fair competitions, and attended summer classes at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.
The family moved to nearby Stanley in 1952. Joyce participated in forensics, art projects, athletics, and cheerleading. At Stanley High School, she edited the yearbook and wrote a Stanley Republican column for two years each, attended Badger Girls State, and graduated in 1959.
Joyce enrolled at UW-Eau Claire, where she was the yearbook art director and a campus-newspaper reporter. She was chosen for homecoming court and as vice president of the Delta Zeta sorority.
Joyce transferred in 1962 to Indiana University-Bloomington and its School of Journalism. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1964 with majors in journalism and sociology.
Joyce worked in advertising and marketing at The West Bend Company from 1965-75, where she wrote, edited, and produced consumer literature.
In West Bend, she met her husband Gordon, and they married there in 1974.
Her family lived in Mukwonago from 1977-82 and in Manitowoc from 1982-2004. She lived later in Wautoma and Janesville.
Joyce was a member of the American Association of University Women Manitowoc-Two Rivers branch from 1986-2004, and served as president from 1992-94. She also ran its Legal Advocacy Fund.
She enjoyed, among many things, conversing, reading, travel, current events, sports, and interior design.
Joyce was preceded in death by her parents, husband, and brother, Dr. Jerome Laurent.
Surviving are her sons, James (Monica) Norlin of Fulshear, Texas, and Paul; her grandchildren, Audrey, Matthew, and Daniel Norlin of Fulshear, Texas; and her stepsons Steven (Mary) Norlin of Houston, and Kevin (Wendy) Norlin of New Orleans. Surviving Laurent family members are her sister-in-law, Virginia Laurent of Whitewater, her niece, Katherine Laurent of Chicago, and her nephew, Thomas Laurent of Chicago.
A private funeral service for family will be held at St. Katherine’s Episcopal Church, Owen, with the Rev. Anthony R. Ring ociating.
Interment will follow at Riverside Cemetery, Withee.
A Celebration of Life will be held for Joyce after the pandemic is over. The family will notify friends and the public then. Plombon Funeral Home assisted the family with arrangements.
Memorials may be given to St. Katherine’s Episcopal Church, Owen, to the Stanley Area Historical Society, or to the National Parks Conservation Association.
