Meet Joyce! Joyce was born in Coffeyville, Kansas. Her father was an electrician who worked on large building projects all over the country, so they moved frequently. The last place her family moved to was Canon City, Colorado. After high school, Joyce joined the U.S. Air Force and was a helicopter mechanic on twin-engine Huey helicopters. This brought her to California, which is where she stayed after her four-year enlistment.
Following the Air Force, Joyce worked for Raychem, a materials science company, as a Quality Assurance Technician working on components for rockets, missiles, aircraft, satellites, and the space shuttle, based in Menlo Park, California.
After working at Raychem for several years, Joyce returned to school and obtained her bachelor’s degree from the College of Notre Dame in Belmont, California, and then attended the University of Santa Clara Law School. Joyce now works in BWB&O’s Walnut Creek office and is set to retire this month!
Changing careers to the legal field allowed Joyce to indulge in hobbies and pastimes. She was privileged to obtain a Private Pilot’s license, so that she could fly little airplanes. She found straight and level flight a little boring, and quickly began learning and practicing loops, rolls, inverted flight, and eventually became the owner of an aerobatic airplane. Joyce also fed her wanderlust and traveled the world, taking at least one big trip a year to over 50 different countries, and all seven continents.
Q&A
Q: What has changed in the legal industry over the years?
A: Since graduating from law school, I’ve witnessed numerous changes in the legal profession. Everything was done with paper documents and rows and rows of file cabinets. Secured communication was by Fax. You hired runners to deliver documents to the court physically. Bike messengers couriered documents to and from law firms. Document reviews were conducted by going to an opposing counsel’s office or their client’s worksite. I conducted a document review, where the opposing party directed me to an outdoor shed where the boxes of documents were stored. They also handed me a can of Raid so I could combat the wasps that were in boxes. Fun times!
Q: What is a fun fact from your time at Raychem?
A: I joke that my DNA is on Jupiter, because one of the products I tested went onto the Galileo satellite that was purposely crashed into Jupiter upon completing its data gathering mission.
Q: Your hobbies sound amazing! Do you have any exciting travel plans coming up, and will you be flying the plane?
A: I won’t be flying myself, but I am going to Argentina at the end of July. I’ll be visiting Iguazu Falls on the border of Argentina and Brazil, and then heading down to the Valdes Peninsula to see the Southern Right Whale. The Right whale was hunted to near extinction, and there are only a few places you can reliably see one. The Valdes Peninsula is a breeding ground for them. After I retire, I plan to fly more. I fly little airplanes and can fly about 1000 miles on a tank of gas in about 4 hours.
A special thank you to Joyce for sharing her experience with us. Happy retirement!
