Phillis A. (Joyce) Johnston

Phillis A. (Joyce) Johnston, 71, of Palmer died Aug. 8 in Mat-Su Regional Medical Center surrounded by her family.

She is survived by her husband of 55 years, J.R. Johnston; sons, Johnny of Hot Springs, Arkansas, James and Jerry of Palmer; sister, Lucille Schaefer of Granbury, Texas; five grandchildren; two great grandchildren; and three nephews and two nieces.

Cremation was handled by a local mortuary. Some of her cremated remains will be buried in Fort Worth, Texas, at Laurland Cemetery next to her parents, Jo Phil and Mary Opel Joyce, sister Mary Joe Parsons, and brother Roy Lee Joyce.

Phillis and her husband, with their three sons in tow, drove the Alaska Highway from Fort Worth, Texas, to Anchorage in May 1967. While living in Anchorage, she was involved with the boys’ school activities and Cub Scouts. The family then moved to California, and after about five years in Half Moon Bay, they moved to Littleton, Colorado. While living in Colorado, she became interested in plants and found she had a “green thumb,” as they say. She learned how to stage plants so something was always blooming.

After six years in Colorado, it was time to head back to Alaska; that was 1983. She started work with the Anchorage School District as a special needs bus attendant from 1983 to 1995. In the summer months she worked her magic with her plants. Some years after retiring her eyesight started to fail due to macular degeneration and she later came down with autoimmune hepatitis, which affected her health in the worst way. When she was diagnosed, the doctor said most patients with this disease live about 14 to 15 years, but Phillis, being a stubborn Texan, made it 16 years before the disease took her life. She will be missed.