M. Joie Webb (f/k/a Mary Jo Bishop)

The Reverend M. Joie Webb (f/k/a Mary Jo Bishop) died peacefully at home on February 28, 2023, after an extended illness. Her beloved husband and daughter were with her. Joie was born July 22, 1947 in Erie, Pennsylvanie to the Reverend Russell Hawley Bishop and Violet Vivian (Bowen) Bishop. Joie was their third child, but the first girl in several generations in the Bishop family, and was the apple of her father’s eye. The family moved to Newton Center, Massachusetts and then Shaker Heights, Ohio, where Joie graduated from Shaker Height High School in 1965. Joie initially attended Heidelberg College, but transferred to Michigan State University, where she graduated with a degree in social work in 1969. While at MSU, Joie enjoyed being a Resident Assistant and was honored as one of the top 50 women in her graduating class. After college, Joie married Paul W. Webb, III in Shaker Heights, Ohio, on December 27, 1969, in a ceremony officiated by her father. Paul and Joie welcomed two children, Jennifer in 1974, and Russell in 1976. The young family moved from Michigan to Boulder, Colorado in 1978, which Joie considered “home” for the rest of her life. While in Boulder, Joie was active in First Congregational Church, acting as moderator when the church officially welcomed the LGBTQ+ community in 1985. Joie volunteered and then worked for Boulder County Hospice throughout the time she lived in Boulder. In 1991, the family moved to Pleasanton, California, where Joie earned her Masters in Divinity at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley. Joie obtained certification in geriatric ministry and worked as a chaplain at the Union City Masonic Home in Union City, California, where she was adored by all the residents. In 1999, Joie and Paul spent a year living in Japan and traveling abroad in connection with Paul’s work. Joie immersed herself in the culture, learning both Japanese and Ikebana, and enjoying the friendships she made in the small town of Ipponmatsu. Upon returning to the states, Paul and Joie moved back to Colorado, where Joie worked as a hospice chaplain for Boulder County Hospice until retiring in 2005. In 2008, Paul and Joie moved to Ozawkie, Kansas to be closer to family, and enjoyed their sailboat on Perry Lake. In 2014, they then moved to Seaside, Oregon where they lived in a picturesque Victorian house a block from the Pacific Ocean. Under mounting pressure from their daughter, they returned to Kansas in May 2021 to be closer to their family, this time to Olathe, . Joie was diagnosed with a serious lung condition in 2007, and was told at that time that she likely only had a short time to live. Joie, however, had a strength the doctors could not have predicted and turned that one year into seventeen. Joie was a fierce advocate for the causes and people that she believed in. Joie’s compassion and empathy were a light to all who knew her. Joie was predeceased by her beloved son Russell in 2015. She is survived by her husband, Paul, daughter Jennifer (Brett) Harris, daughter in law Olivia London Webb, and grandsons Sam Webb, Timo Webb, Ben Wolf, and Jake Wolf. The family plans to hold a celebration of life sometime in the summer of 2023 in the Kansas City area. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Sjögren’s Foundation, at https://sjogrens.org/.

M. Joie Webb (f/k/a Mary Jo Bishop)

July 22, 1947 - February 28, 2023