Tallent, Joy Anne

Joy Anne Tallent, 84, of Oaknoll Retirement Residence, Iowa City, died Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2011, at her home. A memorial service to celebrate Joy's life will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 12, at Oaknoll Retirement Residence. Family committal services will be at the columbarium at Oakland Cemetery.

Memorials may be directed to the Free Lunch Program, P.O. Box 2831, Iowa City, IA 52244; or the Iowa City Hospice, 1025 Wade St., Iowa City, IA 52240.

Joy was born June 22, 1926, in Detroit, Mich., to Raymond and Blanche (Zutz) Redfield. Her early childhood was spent in northern Wisconsin, and she went to the same grade school that her mother had attended. It was here that her love for stories and drama was first nourished.

Joy attended college at the University of Wichita (B.A.), and then she moved to the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana to work on her M.A. in speech pathology. It was there that she went with her friends to a “mixer” and agreed to a dance with a young chemistry graduate student from Tennessee, Bill Tallent. As she wrote, much later, “the dance went on for 52 years.”

Bill and Joy were married in 1952, and three children, Elizabeth, Cinda and Ray followed in the next five years. As well as raising three of her own and keeping them out of mischief (mostly), Joy worked as a speech pathologist/therapist for children at the National Easter Seal Society in Peoria, Ill., for 15 years.

With the kids off on their own (mostly) and having retired in 1982, Joy was excited about moving from Peoria to College Park, Md., where Bill had accepted a post at the USDA. In the D.C. area, she was able to expand on her interest in the visual arts by working as a docent in the National Gallery of Art. Joy loved the cultural richness of the Capital area, and she made sure that her children had tickets to plays, when they came to town.

After Bill's retirement, they moved to Iowa City in 1998 to be near children and grandchildren. Joy and Bill were both active in book clubs, elder-hostel outings and the Free Lunch Program. They were longtime members of the Methodist Church in Peoria, College Park and Iowa City.

In all her loving support and encouragement to her children and grandchildren, Joy spoke with a mixture of caution (born of the Great Depression) and hopeful enthusiasm. She taught good lessons with her life.

Joy is survived by her children and their spouses, Elizabeth Tallent and Gloria Rogers of Fort Bragg, Calif., Cinda Tallent and John Allen of Iowa City, and Ray Tallent and Paula Bergstrom of Marengo; and four grandchildren, Gabriel Tallent, Daniel Allen, Maren Allen and Luke Allen.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Bill; an infant brother; and an infant sister.

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