Joyce C. Beecher

Joyce C. Beecher November 22, 1927 November 6, 2013 CAPE ELIZABETH - Joyce C. Beecher, 85, formerly of the Village Crossing and 4 Windmill Lane, passed away peacefully on Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2013. Joyce was born on Nov. 22, 1927 in Calais, to Francis J. and Ferne Flemming McNamara. She grew up in Calais, attended local schools, graduating from Ellsworth High School in 1946. After graduation, she married and moved to South Portland. Joyce was employed at Prosperity Company and the Guy Gannett Publishing Company before beginning her successful 40 year career in real estate. She joined the sales force at the Beecher Agency real estate firm in South Portland in 1962 and went on to open her own agency, Joyce Beecher Realty, which she owned and operated for several years. She continued in real estate working for the Vera Bubier Agency and Tinsman Real Estate until her retirement. Over the course of her life, Joyce's true passion was golf, and she was a gifted player. Her career spanned 25 years, and began when, at the age of twenty-five, she joined Purpoodock Country Club in 1954. She won twenty consecutive club championships, and went on to win another, for a total of twenty-one, which gave her the record number of individual championship wins at Purpoodock. In addition, she was 4 times a finalist in the Women's Maine State Golf Championship, held low gross in the state for many years, represented Maine in the Tri State Women's Tournament multiple times in the No. 1 position, set the club's golf record for women in 1957, and won four Al Baka trophies. She was instrumental in establishing the Southern Maine Women's Golf Association, and was the Southern Maine Women's Golf champion in 1978. Joyce's athleticism was not limited to the golf course. Always active until her later years, she will be remembered as an avid sportswoman and outdoor enthusiast who was eager to share her interests. She especially enjoyed skiing, bowling, camping, fishing, rock-climbing, boating, and motorcycling. She loved winters spent in Fort Myers Beach, Florida, where she enjoyed fishing, boating, and entertaining friends and family. Joyce had artistic talent as an oil painter, and had great appreciation for poetry. Holiday gatherings will be remembered for her spirited readings of "The Highwayman," by Alfred Noyes, and "The Rainy Day," by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, whose words are inscribed on her headstone, and who writes: ""Behind the clouds is the sun still shining; Thy fate is the common fate of all." Joyce is survived by her daughter, Lynn Carr, of South Portland; two granddaughters, Jennifer Caswell and Tracy George, and their husbands, Claude and Shawn, of New Hampshire; four great-grandchildren, Chloe, Esther, Elijah, and Ezra; nephew Michael McNamara, and his wife, Patricia, of Cape Elizabeth; niece Sue Clark, and her husband, Arnold, of Calais. She was predeceased by her parents, brother William McNamara and wife Lois. Upon her request, there will be no formal service or public viewing. Online condolences may be expressed at www.athutchins.com

Joyce C. Beecher

November 22, 1927 - November 6, 2013

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