Joyce May Bockemuehl

Joyce May (McGehee) Bockemuehl, passed away from natural causes on Easter Sunday, April 4, 2021 in Cape Coral, Florida. She was 88 years old and had been in declining health. She will be interred in the McGehee family plot at Woodlawn Cemetery in Summit, Mississippi. Joyce was a native of Memphis, Tennessee. She was the only child of the late Edith May Willis, R.N. of Louisiana and Herbert Hillery McGehee, of Mississippi.

She attended public schools in Lansing and Detroit until leaving for Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan where she was a political science major and planned to continue to law school. Marriage to Robert Russell Bockemuehl changed those plans. She resided in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan for 55 years and moved to Cape Coral, Florida in 2017 to be near her family.

She has one son, Kenneth (Marilyn) Forrest Bockemuehl, two grandchildren Brooke Nicole Martinez and Russell (Jamie) Forrest Bockemuehl, and four great-grandchildren. Robert was a retired electrical engineer and a department head at the General Motors Research Laboratories who volunteered his talent at Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic, reading text books in scientific fields. Robert passed away on January 30, 2017.

Her avocational interests include philately, miniatures, needlework and music. She served on the state board of the Federation of Music Clubs where she administered a music therapy scholarship for 15 years. However, her devotion to genealogy took over. Consideration was given to becoming a certified genealogist but she found helping others find their lineages and membership in hereditary societies more rewarding.

Joyce was a proud member and officer of many lineage societies including DAR, Jamestowne Society, National Huguenot Society, and Colonial Dames of America. She also helped found the American Descendants of the House of Burgesses. If you would like to make a donation in her name please contact the lineage society of your choice.

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