Joyce Marie Thompson (Gore)

Joyce Marie Thompson (Gore) passed away on Saturday, April 1, 2023, at Prairie Sunset Home in Pretty Prairie, Kansas.

She was a loving wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. She passed away at 89 after battling dementia for the past 14 years. Joyce was born on February 12, 1934, in Tuskahoma, Oklahoma, to Ulysses S. Young and Lennie Audie (Haynes) Young. She came from a large family with five brothers: Cecil Young, Melvin Young, Selbert Young, James Young, and Tom Young, and two sisters: Bernice Calhoun and Nita Melick. Her family remained in Oklahoma during her early years and eventually moved to El Dorado, Kansas, a few years after her mother died when Joyce was eight. She attended school in El Dorado and later met the love of her life, Alvin Keith Gore. They married on January 16, 1953, and raised four children together: Steven, Dianna, Monte, and Gayla.

Joyce was a Christian and had an infectious smile and a warm heart. She was indeed a caregiver and always looked for the best in everyone she met. She adored her grandchildren and great-grandchildren immensely. She loved the smell and beauty of flowers and enjoyed listening to music and singing hymns that she learned as a young child. Chocolate was her guilty pleasure.

Joyce was always determined to succeed in everything she did. Her work outside the home included positions as a terminal manager for Morgan Drive Away in Plainville, a clerk for the Barton County Treasurer’s Office in Great Bend, and co-owner and office manager for Gore Trucking in Plainville until she retired.

She was preceded in death by her mother and father; her in-laws; her five brothers; sister Bernice; her husband Alvin Gore; daughter Dianna Mock; her second husband Alan Thompson; granddaughter Danielle Gore; infant grandson Brett Gore; and infant great-granddaughter Zavery Gore.

She is survived by her sons Steven Gore Sr. and wife LuAnn of Palmyra, Pa., and Monte Gore of Bainbridge, Pa.; son-in-law Phillip Mock of Oklahoma City, Okla.; daughter Gayla Puthoff and husband Fred of Wichita; sister Nita Melick and husband John of Mulvane; and thirteen grandchildren and nineteen great-grandchildren along with numerous nieces and nephews.

Services are planned for 10:30 a.m. Thursday, April 6, 2023, at the First Christian Church in Plainville. Burial will follow in Plainville City Cemetery. Visitation will be from 4:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. at the funeral home.

In lieu of flowers, memorials are suggested to River Cross Hospice and may be sent to Plumer-Overlease Funeral Home, 320 SW 2nd, Plainville, KS 67663.