NORMAN — Joy Colleen Tschappat Eidson, 66, of Sulphur died Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012, after a long and courageous battle with brain cancer.

A celebration of life will be at 2 p.m. Friday, Nov. 16, 2012, at Crossway Baptist Church in Sulphur with the Rev. Bill Leveridge officiating. Arrangements are by DeArman’s Clagg Funeral Home of Sulphur.

Joy was born Feb. 4, 1946, in Tulsa; the first daughter of Dan Edward Tschappat and Harriett Ann Wilson Tschappat. Joy went to be with God on Sunday, Oct. 28, a beautiful crisp fall day with red and golden foliage colors and a bright beautiful harvest moon.

Joy was the first of three children. She graduated from Tulsa Edison High School and the University of Oklahoma with a bachelor’s degree in education. During her time in college, Joy worked for the University’s publication office and was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority. Joy and several of her sorority sisters spent summers working abroad, including one summer in Hyannis Port, Mass., where Joy worked at a gift shop called the Little Fan and two of her regular customers were Jackie and Rose Kennedy. During another summer, much to the chagrin of her father, Joy and her sorority sisters spent the summer working as blackjack dealers at Harrah’s Casino in Lake Tahoe, Calif.

Joy met her husband and love of her life, Arvin Wayne Eidson, while attending the University of Oklahoma and, fittingly, their first date was to the OU/Texas football game, and yes, OU won the game. They married Aug. 2, 1969, in Tulsa, Okla.

After graduation and before marriage, Joy taught fourth grade elementary students in Garden Grove, Calif., and after marriage, she taught at Cleveland Elementary School in Norman.

After their marriage, Wayne joined the U.S. Army, and during his service Wayne and Joy were stationed at Fort Sill; Fort Polk, La.; and in Kilkis, Greece. While they were stationed at Fort Polk, Joy taught elementary school in Deridder, La. Wayne and Joy spent Wayne’s final year in the service in the small Greek village of Kilkis where Wayne was attached to a Greek/American weapons site. During that time, Joy taught English in a Greek school and they spent their spare time touring northern Greece in an old worn-out Fiat, snorkeling in the Aegean and enjoying Greek culture, wine and food.

After Wayne’s tour of duty, Wayne and Joy returned to Sulphur, and purchased the local Chevrolet dealership. Joy served as the dealership’s business manager from the outset, and she and Wayne have worked side-by-side for more than 40 years. During this time, Joy came to know that the people with whom she worked were the best in the world, and that she and Wayne were blessed with a wonderful community and customers.

Joy and Wayne have two wonderful daughters, Danielle Wise Eidson and Kathryn Scott Eidson Griffin. These young ladies have been their mother’s best friends. When they were together, there was always laughter and good times. Joy was very, very proud of her girls.

Joy loved her family. She enjoyed visiting her mother and brother in Aspen, Colo., loved animals, and spent many an evening with Wayne in their backyard watching a beautiful sunset and enjoying a good glass of wine. Joy and Wayne loved OU football and attending home games with their family in Norman, and they were fortunate enough to have traveled to some of the most beautiful places in the world.

Joy was a fun loving lady who was always making us laugh. We remember on one occasion when she was leaving a store and was trying to get the front door of the store to open using the keyless remote to her car. Or the time she drove from Sulphur to Davis without knowing that the rear-hatch of her Tahoe was wide open and returned only to tell David Woods in the service department about “some sort of wind leak in her car.” And then there was the time she unknowingly used self-tanning lotion on her feet and legs and when they started to turn an orange color, she thought she had blood poisoning and had Wayne take her to the emergency room. Finally, there was the time that Joy started to get into a Suburban in the parking lot at Penn Square Mall thinking it was hers, unbeknownst to the lady who owned the Suburban sitting in the front seat, who shrieked along with Joy when they looked at each other once Joy had opened the driver’s-side door.

Joy was a beautiful, gracious and caring wife, mother, daughter, sister and friend. She was always asking whomever she met about themselves and their family and whether she could do anything for them. Those having met Joy always came away feeling better about themselves.

Joy is survived by her husband of 43 years, Arvin Wayne Eidson; her daughter, Danielle Wise Eidson of Beverly Hills, Calif.; daughter and son-in-law, Kathryn Scott Eidson Griffin and John J. Griffin III of Oklahoma City; mother, Harriett Tschappat of Aspen; brother and sister-in-law, Rocky and Kelli Tschappat of Aspen; sister, Kate McKenzie of Ashland, Ore., as well as a wonderful aunt and nephew, and nieces and cousins.

Donations honoring the memory of Joy Eidson can be made to the MD Anderson Cancer Center, Glioblastoma Research, P.O. Box 4486, Houston, TX 77210 or to the Davis, Oklahoma Animal Volunteers, 317 East Main St., Davis, OK 73030.

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