In memoriam

With a sense of deep sorrow the staff of purchasing services learned of the death of Joyce Houghton from cancer on May 11. Her passing is a great loss to the department and to the university at large. Joyce had just received her 30-year service award from the president last year.

Joyce joined purchasing as departmental secretary in December 1971 when IBM’s Magcard was the electronic word processor of the day. Never one to shirk a challenge Joyce quickly moved purchasing into the next generation with the Magtape version and was soon teaching many other secretaries on campus how to benefit from this new innovation.

Joyce moved to housing services for a few years but returned to purchasing when the opportunity arose. Purchasing had moved into the computer age and Joyce was keen to grow with it, and took on the task as Lan administrator. When the university adopted the Banner financial package Joyce was a working member of the implementation team.
Working with the consultants and computing services, Joyce worked hard tweaking the system, adapting the program and the process to improve the work flow. She worked hard to make the EASY system easier for others.

Joyce touched many lives in her 30 years with the university and was always available to help in any way she could. She served the university well in her unassuming manner. Although she had no immediate family in Canada she had many extended families throughout the country. Therefore, it was no surprise that the memorial service held in the university chapel was filled with friends and acquaintances.

Submitted by George Smith, former manager of purchasing services.