Kingwood, TX - Joyce Daniel White passed away on January 26th, 2021 in Houston, TX. She was born Joyce Daniel Bonnin to Raymond Bonnin and Jeanette Bond in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Joyce and her twin sister Joan were the youngest of four siblings. Joyce graduated from Bloom High School in Chicago Heights, IL and it was on a double date with her twin sister that she met her future husband, Clement White. Joyce and Clem were married for 55 years and enjoyed an active life together with family, friends, tennis, and travel until Clem’s death in 2012.
Joyce and Clem raised two sons, William and Michael, and Joyce was an extremely loving mother and wife. Joyce’s heart also extended well beyond her family. The the White household was legendary with her sons friends and always included fun and food for all. Everyone was always welcome.
Joyce was a natural caregiver. As the family moved from Philadelphia to Cleveland to Dallas, and finally to Houston, Joyce always worked as a nurse.She eventually specialized in women’s health and breast cancer. Joyce had incredible empathy for all around her, she could sense when people were in need of comfort. On many nights, after working a full day at the hospital she would come home and make dinner for her family and then go back to the hospital to be with someone who had surgery the next day - even if she had just met that patient.
As a nurse at North East Medical Center in Kingwood, TX, Joyce founded and ran a support group for women who were diagnosed with or who had recovered from breast cancer. The time she spent in these support groups energized her and she ran the breast cancer support group for over 30 years. Joyce ran weekly support groups and there was not a concert, play or other event in the Houston area that Joyce could not secure complimentary tickets for the entire support group.
It was also as a nurse at NEMC in 2001 that Joyce and her friend Bonnie Robertson, conceived Project Mammogram. Many women in the Houston area were not educated on breast health or did not have medical insurance or other means to have a mammogram. In 2001, with an initial donation of $5,000 from Kingwood Women’s Club, Project Mammogram went into underprivileged areas of Houston to raise awareness of breast health and provide free mammograms. Through the years Project Mammogram continued to grow. In 2006 it raised $50,000 from Susan G Komen and in 2016 it received $200,000. Her legacy is still growing and has served over 10,000 women in the Houston area with over 200 breast cancers detected at early stage.
During the last 10 years of her life, Joyce developed a neurological disorder causing a narrowing of the spinal column that limited her to a wheelchair. Through her many physical struggles, Joyce was always determined, social amongst her friends, active, and optimistic. She even continued to work with Project Mammogram at Mission Northeast on Hispanic Days with an interpreter. She was a force of nature.
Joyce was a devout christian. She loved attending Kingwood Bible Church and was active in bible study. Joyce saw only the good in people, she was the rare person who never uttered an unkind word and was constantly praying for others.
Throughout her life, Joyce enjoyed tennis, sweets, sunflowers, the occasional margarita and photos of her family taped to the refrigerator. Joyce is survived by her twin sister, Joan Wolf, her sons Bill and Mike, their wives Kelley and Anne-Marie and her three grandchildren, Max, Natalie and Bailey, whom Joyce loved dearly.
