Joyce Louise Packard McNickle
1927-2015
Joyce Louise Packard McNickle was born November 14, 1927 at the family farm home of her parents Arthur and Vera (Thralls) Packard near Helena, OK. Joyce loved playing on the basketball team at Helena High School, from which she graduated in 1945. Just after the end of World War II, she married her high-school sweetheart, Bernie McNickle. They lived first in Oklahoma City, then Tulsa, where they raised their son and daughter. Joyce was a devoted wife and mother and a stay-at-home mom until her children left home, when she joined Bernie in the dental supply business. Joyce and Bernie returned to Oklahoma City in 1984, as co-owners of Reeve Dental Supply, which they expanded into Texas before retiring in 1999.
Joyce was baptized in the Disciples of Christ church in Helena at age nine, and spent the balance of her life as a proud and involved member of the denomination, accepting local as well as regional leadership responsibilities. Joyce considered it a great honor to be one of the first women elders at Harvard Avenue Church in Tulsa. For the past 25 years, she has been a devoted member of First Christian Church, Edmond, serving in multiple leadership roles – currently as elder emeritus.
Throughout her lifetime, she worked tirelessly in a volunteer capacity for community organizations such as Planned Parenthood, Neighbor for Neighbor and the American Cancer Society. One of Joyce’s joys in life was travel – invariably with Bernie at her side – but particularly traveling to Israel twice, a dream of hers at an early age.
After narrowly escaping death during an extended illness spanning 2004-2005, Joyce was thankful for each day and the time she had to spend with her family.
Joyce is preceded in death by her parents; her sister, Deloris Snider; and her beloved son-in-law, Donald Stephen Rose. She is survived by her loving husband of 69 years, Bernard Floyd McNickle; her daughter, Vicki McNickle Rose; her son, Norman Arthur McNickle and his wife Deborah Burns McNickle; three grandchildren, Zachary Norman McNickle (Kerry Deer); Daniel Robert McNickle; and Samuel Bernard McNickle (Calli Stinchcomb); and great-grandsons Wyatt Norman McNickle and Will Steven McNickle; numerous nieces and nephews and a host of friends.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to:
Oklahoma Disciples Foundation (designating First Christian Church Edmond Mission Endowment Fund), 301 NW 36th Street, Oklahoma City, OK 73118
or First Christian Church Edmond Disciples4Water, P.O. Box 3548, Edmond, Oklahoma 73083
Services will be held at 10:00 a.m., Friday, September 18, 2015 at the First Christian Church in Edmond with interment at Memorial Park Cemetery in Tulsa, OK at 3:00 p.m.
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