Joyce Dillon, 76

After a short illness at the age of 76, Joyce Dillon passed away on July 27, 2020.

Joyce grew up in Warren, Ohio, and at the age of 19 she started her career as a “stewardess” for United Air Lines. That career lasted 56 years as she was an active flight-attendant until the very end. Her goal was to be in the top 10 in seniority among over 10,000 flight attendants for United — and she may have made it! Her career started flying prop aircraft out of Washington, D.C., then on to Seattle and from there to Los Angeles, where she set up residency for decades. From L.A., she moved to her beloved Sandpoint in the early 1990s and transferred her flying domicile to San Fran-cisco and flew international flights. She commuted from Sandpoint to San Francisco for the last few decades of her career. Joyce loved her job, and said she would keep working as long as it was fun. She enjoyed the layovers for shopping and sightseeing, chatting with passengers, and the camaraderie with her flying partners.

Joyce had no close living relatives, so her friends were her family. She made it a point to pick up small thoughtful gifts from all over the world to bring back to her friends. She was a wonderful cook and hostess. Her dinner parties, large and small, were elegant, delicious and always full of good conversation and laughs. She was an incredibly talented gardener and created a magical space of beautiful flowers, trees, shrubs and water features around her house. And of course she loved her cats, and she had some fascinating ones over the years. She was equally fond of dogs, but with her flight schedule, cats were easier to manage.

Joyce was a loyal and loving friend. Her life ended too soon. In addition to being a good friend, she was a warm vibrant and generous person.

She supported many of the non-profit organizations in Bonner County, but her two favorite ones were the Panhandle Animal Shelter, pasidaho.org, and the Pend Oreille Arts Council, artinsandpoint.org. Any donations to those organizations in her name would be a wonderful tribute to her. A remembrance and celebration of her life will be held at a later date.

Family and friends are invited to sign Joyce’s online guest book at www.coffeltfuneral.com

Arrangements are under the care of Coffelt Funeral Service.