Joyce Lee Hale

Joyce Lee Hale, age 92, died peacefully on February 8th at Record Street Home for Aged, Frederick, MD. Born on November 29, 1930, near Jefferson, Maryland and died from complications associated with dementia.
As a teenager, she enjoyed playing on the girl’s High School Field Ball team. During one game, a spectator affectionately called her “legs” because of her nicely shaped “gams.” For the rest of her life she often spoke with just a little embarrassment, of the compliment and how nice her legs looked. After graduating from Middletown High School in 1947, she went to work for Frederick Tailoring working on bastings for men’s suits. The following year she married Bernard Hale of Lander, Maryland.
Throughout her life, Joyce was a quiet and generally demure woman who lived a minimalistic lifestyle with few desires for worldly possessions. She was a mother to two children, a voracious reader, and a typical 50’s homemaker. She canned/froze food from the family garden and made homemade applesauce. For approximately 25 years she was a member of the First United Methodist Church in Brunswick. Joyce always had a close connection with young children and relished the occasions when she was asked to work in the church nursery during church services. When her own children were in high school, she found employment as a nanny for two families.
In 1973, she divorced and moved to an apartment in Middletown, then reconnected with her childhood church, Zion Lutheran. Joyce became a very active member, enjoying volunteering for the church, serving on the Altar Guild, as a Sunday service greeter, on the newsletter mailing team, and as one of the office staff.
To support herself, she went to work for the National Geographic Society as an Accounts Receivable Clerk, where she continued her employment until 1994 when the Gaithersburg location closed. Joyce was disappointed that she had to retire early because she enjoyed her job, was still capable and would miss the close friends she had made. She loved the trip that she and her coworkers made to New York City and often spoke of her experiences. She was finally able to see many of the sites of the city. Her special highlights were to go to the top of the Empire State Building, taking the harbor cruise to see the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan Skyline, plus walking across the Brooklyn Bridge. She stated that, by far, the trip to the Big Apple was her best travel experience!
Her first flying experience was to the Jacksonville FL area to visit her daughter and her family. It was a white-knuckle experience all the way, but she survived and for many years she made the trip to see the family. She enjoyed her annual visits and time at the beach searching for seashells and sharks’ teeth at the water edge.
Joyce had a special bond with her beloved granddaughter, Jenifer, who affectionately referred to her as “Nana Banana.” Minutes before she passed away, Jenifer had called and told her again how much she loved her, which appeared to give her permission to move on.
Perhaps her only guilty pleasure was occasionally playing penny slot machines at the casino in Charlestown, WV. It was simply entertainment for her as she would spend no more than $20 and she had no expectations of winning more than a couple of dollars to continue playing.
Due to upcoming renovations of her apartment building, Joyce moved in with her son and daughter-in-law in Frederick for more than 3 years. She then moved to Record Street Home for the Aged. Not long after moving, Joyce had an unfortunate accident where she fractured her hip in three places. After surgery to repair her hip, she fought with great tenacity to regain use of her leg and with therapy she learned to walk with the use of a rolling walker for balance. Living with other ladies of her generation in a small facility was a good move for her. She enjoyed the planned activities including various parties, visits with therapy dogs, group singing, entertainment from various groups and playing games, especially Bingo. She received lots of loving care for her physical and emotional needs from the nursing and other health care staff, plus lots of encouragement and special attention from many exceptionally kind board members. She resided there for almost 6 years.
Joyce was very interested in what was happening in our country and regularly tuned in to watch many political opinion programs on TV. She also looked forward to the movies on the Hallmark and Lifetime channels.
Joyce is survived by daughter, Kathy Cage of Orange Park, FL; son Michael Hale (Carla) of Frederick, MD; granddaughters Jenifer Cage of Middleburg, FL, and Heather Hale Hardee (Wayne) of Winterville, NC; great granddaughter Lauren Maze (Dee) of Orange Park, FL. She is also survived by her siblings, Jean Gilbert (Jim) of Stafford, VA; Alice Fisher of Frederick, MD; and Barry Poffinberger (JoAnn) of Boonsboro, MD; aunt, Adrienne Rhoderick of Middletown. Also, one niece, three nephews and their children.
She is pre-deceased by her parents, Leroy and Ruth Poffinberger, her former husband, Bernard Hale, sister Eloise Grove, brothers-in-law Eugene Grove and Oscar Fisher Sr, as well as her son-in-law David Cage, whom she dearly loved.
Family will receive friends at Keeney and Basford Funeral Homes, P.A. 106 E. Church Street, Frederick, MD from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on February 13th. Funeral service will be held at Zion Lutheran Church, 107 West Main Street, Middletown, MD at 11 a.m. on February 14th with family receiving friends one hour prior. Interment will follow at the church cemetery adjacent to the church with a small luncheon following in the fellowship hall.
In lieu of flowers, a donation may be made in Joyce’s name to Record Street Home, 115 Record Street, Frederick, MD 21701.