Joyce O Hoggan

Joyce Oliphant Hoggan, aged 86, beloved wife, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, niece and cousin, passed away on Thursday, 4 February, while traveling in Salinas, California, due to complications of brain injury due to a stroke.

Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, Mrs. Hoggan graduated from South High School before attending the University of Utah, where she met her future husband, Malcolm David “Dave” Hoggan. The couple were married in the Salt Lake City Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints on May 20, 1950. Their life continued in Salt Lake until a call to active duty in the U.S. Army took them to the Presidio, San Francisco, California, where their son was born. The young family was then reassigned to Baltimore, Maryland, before another assignment took them to Washington, D.C., where their daughter was born. A transfer to the U.S. Public Health Service allowed the family to settle in suburban Maryland, outside the Nation’s Capital. Joyce and her husband enjoyed nearly five decades in Maryland, that included making many lifetime friends there.

While her children were in school, Mrs. Hoggan completed her degree in Early Childhood Education at the University of Maryland (U of Md) after which she began teaching in several elementary schools in Montgomery County, Maryland. While teaching, Joyce received her Masters plus 30 degree, also at the U of Md. The last years of her primary school teaching career were in the kindergarten of Potomac Elementary School, Potomac, Maryland. During her career she taught gifted and disadvantaged children, a challenging mix that Joyce found particularly fulfilling as she loved all her students, whether from humble nonEnglishspeaking homes or multilanguage diplomatic families.

Joyce was known by her family and friends as feisty, funny, direct, and generous, whose impressive talents as a hostess, baker, seamstress and homemaker will always be remembered with joy. Joyce was an earnest sports fan, following a wide interest in college and professional sports. Active in her LDS faith, she approached every church calling and assignment with enthusiasm and dedication.

In retirement, Joyce and Dave embarked on their favorite adventure, among years of international travel, teaching for three years at Zhejiang Medical University in Hangzhou, China, through Brigham Young University’s Kennedy International Center. For the last eight years, Joyce and her husband made their winter home on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and summer home in Salt Lake City, Utah. Joyce was a proud member of two heritage societies, the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the International Society Daughters of Utah Pioneers.

Mrs. Hoggan was preceded in death by her parents John Arden and Annie Lucile Peck Gold Oliphant; a brother and sisterinlaw, E. Wheeler and Carole Lake Oliphant; second brother, Roger A. Oliphant (Diane); brotherinlaw Carl L. Betts; sisterinlaw Carolyn H. Larsen; niece, Leslie Ann Betts; nephews Blair C. Oliphant and Arden Oliphant; grandniece Emma LeSueur Cunningham. Joyce leaves behind her loving husband of nearly 66 years, Dr. Dave Hoggan, Corolla, North Carolina and Salt Lake City, Utah; her son, David A. (Fatima) Hoggan, Vienna, Virginia; daughter Melissa “Missy” H. Groppel, Corolla, North Carolina; granddaughters, Roxanne Hoggan and Lila Hoggan; elder sister Janice O. Betts (Kent) Bennion; brother Lincoln C. Oliphant (Donna); many loving nieces and nephews; three younger aunts; many cousins; and many friends including multiple “adopted” Chinese medical students, who now successfully practice medicine in the United States and throughout the world.

Arrangements for Mrs. Hoggan are by Holbrook Mortuary. Family and friends are invited to a funeral service to be held on Saturday, 20 February, 11:00 a.m. at the Holbrook Mortuary Chapel, 3251 S 2300 E, Salt Lake City, followed by interment at Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park. Visitation with the family to be held at Holbrook on Friday evening, 19 February, 6:00-8:00 p.m., and prior to Saturday’s service, 9:30-10:30 a.m. Expressions of tribute to Mrs. Hoggan may be directed to the Organization for Autism Research, www.researchautism.org.