Joyce Mumby Macbeth

Dr. Joyce Mumby Macbeth, 85, died Oct. 30, 2011, in Palmer.

Joyce wished to have her cremains spread on her garden at her homestead. Celebration of Joyce’s life will take place around the 2012 summer solstice.

Joyce was born Sept. 3, 1926, in New Salem, N.D., the daughter of Lester and AdaBelle (Carrick) Mumby.

After earning a B.S. degree at Jamestown College in North Dakota, Joyce taught school for two years in North Dakota. In 1949, she went to Sitka to work as a Presbyterian missionary at Sheldon Jackson Junior College. While teaching a geology course there, she decided to pursue that subject. Joyce earned her M.S. degree from the University of Washington and a Ph.D. at Bryn Mawr College.

In 1961, Joyce returned to Alaska to teach geology and related subjects at East High School in Anchorage and to work as a consulting micropaleontologist with Dr. Ruth Schmidt. In 1963, she built a home in the south Anchorage area and married John E. Macbeth, a disabled veteran, who preceded her in death in 1971.

In the late 1970s, Joyce taught for Chapman College at Elmendorf, Shemya, Attu and Kodiak. After retiring from teaching high school in 1977, she taught evening courses at Anchorage Community College. In 1984, Joyce built a home on the Dawson Lindblom homestead in the Talkeetna Mountains east of Willow, where she lived until her death.

Joyce is survived by her brother and sister-in-law, James and Grace Mumby of Renton, Wash., and her many friends.

Donations in her memory can be made to:

• Willow Library Association, P.O. Box 129, Willow, AK 99688-0129.

• Mat-Su Borough Animal Care and Regulation Shelter, 350 E. Dahlia Ave., Palmer, AK 99645.

For information, contact Jackie Kephart at jjkephart@yahoo.com or (907) 374-0414.

Arrangements were cared for by Valley Funeral Home and Crematory.