Joyce Deon Shafer Blake

BLAKE, Joyce Deon Shafer, 65, passed away Monday, May 22, 2017, at Henrico Doctors' Hospital in Richmond. She was born in Charleston, W.Va, on August 14, 1951. She was the daughter of Pat and Mary Frances Shafer. She graduated from Herbert Hoover High School. She attended West Virginia Tech, where she studied Chemical Engineering. She married Arthur Blake and they settled in Richmond, Va., where she worked for Bell Telephone Co. Joyce and Arthur did missionary trips with groups from their church. She was preceded in death by her husband, Arthur Blake; her paternal grandparents, Nelson and Maysel Shafer; maternal grandparents, Dayton and Crystal Sampson. She is survived by her daughter, Erin Elizabeth Blake-Bidwell and her husband, John; her mother, Mary Frances Shafer of Brownsburg, Ind.; brothers, David Wayne Shafer and his wife, Roberta of Brownsburg, Ind., Pat Geary Shafer and wife, Laura of Matthew, N.C.; several uncles, aunts and cousins. The family will receive friends from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday, May 25, 2017, at the Parham Chapel, Woody Funeral Home, 1771 N. Parham Rd., where her funeral service will be held 11 a.m. Friday. Burial will follow at Westhampton Memorial and Cremation Park. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations should be made to the TV Ministry at Grove Avenue Baptist Church, 8701 Ridge Rd., Richmond, Va. 23229. Condolences may be offered at woodyfuneralhomeparham.com.