Joyce Toy passed away on May 4, 2024 after a long and active life. She was born in Pasadena, California, and grew up in that area through the Great Depression and World War II. After her fiancé, Ernest W. Toy, Jr., returned from his service with the Navy in the Pacific during the war, they were married and attended UCLA, where she earned her Bachelor’s degree in art and he went to library school. After the Korean War broke out in 1950, Ernest was called up for Navy service again, and was patrolling the seas off the coast of Korea when their first child was born.
Their first two children, Barbara and Ernest III, were born in Pasadena, then the family moved to Riverside around 1954, when Ernest Jr. became Head Librarian for Riverside City College. They had two more children during their time in Riverside, Breck and Roger.
Around 1959, Ernest Jr. was hired as Head Librarian and a founding faculty member at what is now called California State University, Fullerton (CSUF). The family moved to Fullerton in early 1960, near his new place of work. Their fifth child, Rebecca, was born in 1961. When she reached school age, Joyce started classes at CSUF to earn her Master’s Degree in Art, and then her teaching credential.
As a woman seeking a full-time position teaching at the Community College level in the 1970s, she faced many hurdles but, with the support of faculty members at Rio Hondo College who had worked with her, she ultimately became a tenured professor there, managing the campus art gallery and teaching print-making, art history and other courses. She thoroughly enjoyed working with her students, and they frequently voted her the “Best Teacher of the Year,” an honor she greatly appreciated. Among the high points of her teaching career, she spent six months in Italy on sabbatical around 1985, honing her printmaking skills in Florence and visiting museums, cathedrals, and other sites of important art works in Italy and France, gathering information and materials for her classes.
Her marriage to Ernest, Jr., ended in 1971. After many years of estrangement, Joyce, Ernest, Jr., and his second wife, Beverly, all became good friends and mutually supportive as they got older. Joyce never remarried, but had several romantic relationships over the years. Her longest and final relationship was with Robert Anspach, a widower who shared her love of gardening, travel and ballroom dancing. They both were Master Gardeners, and volunteered at the Fullerton Arboretum for many years after Joyce retired, and they also enjoyed many cruises and other activities together until his death in 2018.
She is survived by four of her children, her much-loved grandson, Alex, her nieces and nephews, and her former husband and his wife. She is greatly missed by all who knew her.
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