Vivian Charlotte Ness and Ralph Brackett Joy
RALPH BRACKETT JOY, son of BERTHA BELLE BRACKETT and CLYDE ROYAL JOY,
was born September 5, 1891 in Keokuk, Lee, Iowa,456, 11336 and died March 27, 1919 in Waukesha, Waukesha, Wisconsin.5365
He is buried in Oakland Cemetery, Keokuk, Lee, Iowa.456
He married VIVIAN CHARLOTTE NESS on October 16, 1913 in First Presbyterian Church, Wichita, Sedgwick, Kansas.11337 She was born May 2, 1892,456 and died June 12, 1973.456
- Vivian Charlotte Ness was also known as Viola Ness.
Children of VIVIAN CHARLOTTE NESS and RALPH BRACKETT JOY:
- MARJORY JOY, b. December 30, 1914, Iowa;1806 d. November 17, 1921, Galesburg, Knox, Illinois.1806
Personal Information
Education
Ralph B. Joy
Marriage Announcements and News
Daily Gate City and Constitution-Democrat, October 17, 191311337
Joy-Ness Wedding
Mr. and Mrs. Ralph B. Joy whose marriage occurred yesterday morning at Wichita, Kans., will return to this city in a few days to reside at their new home on Twelfth street near Grand avenue. The following account of the wedding is from the Wichita Eagle:
One of the prettiest of the autumn church weddings was that of Miss Viola Charlotte Ness and Mr. Ralph Brackett Joy, which occurred this morning at nine o'clock at the First Presbyterian church.
Miss Ness is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. R. Ness of North Lawrence avenue and is a girl much loved by all her friends. She is a graduate of Knox college, Galesburg, Ill., and is a member of the Pi Beta Phi sorority. Mr. Joy is associated with the Kellogg-Birge company in Keokuk, Iowa. He is a graduate of Knox college and is a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity.
Miss Ness was attended by Miss Ruth Meecham of Galesburg who is also a Pi Beta Phi and Mr. Joy as best man by Mr. Gregg Olson of Galesburg, Ill., who is a Beta Theta Pi. The church was decorated with palms and chrysanthemums. The wedding service was said by Dr. Andrew Melrose Brodie. Preceding the wedding service Mrs. Inez Dodds-Barbour sang "Calm as the Night," and "All For You," and for the entrance of the bridal party Mrs. Gertrude Froham Jones played Mendelsohn's Wedding March. First came Miss Meecham who wore a very handsome gown of marigold yellow trimmed with cream lace and black fur and with this she wore a hat of black velvet trimmed with lace. She carried yellow roses. Next came the bride who entered the church with her father. She wore a beautiful gown of brocaded chiffon and with this wore a pink plush trimmed in ermine. She carried a shower of bride's roses with which pink rosebuds were intermingled. At the altar they were met by Mr. Joy and Mr. Olson. The gifts to the attendants were rhinestone slipper buckles and a diamond tie clasp.
The bride's traveling suit was of blue broadcloth and with this she wore a blue hat trimmed in blue and green plumes.
Following the ceremony a wedding breakfast was served at the bride's home at which the rooms were prettily decorated. About thirty guests were present at the breakfast.
Among the out of town guests for the wedding were Mr. and Mrs. Clyde R. Joy and Mr. Carrol Joy, of Keokuk, Iowa and Miss Ethel Houston of Lawrence.
Obituaries
Daily Gate City and Constitution-Democrat, March 27, 191911336
DEATH OF WELL KNOWN MAN
Ralph B. Joy Dies at Waukesha, Wisconsin, This Forenoon After a Long Illness and Struggle for Life.
POPULAR IN KEOKUK
Patriotic to the Core and of Brilliant Mind, He Was Very Democratic and Cordial to Everybody He Knew.
Ralph Brackett Joy died this forenoon of diabetes in a sanitarium at Waukesha, Wis. His wife was with him, and his father left at noon after receiving a telegram telling of the death, which was not unexpected.
Ralph R. Joy was born and reared in Keokuk and was one of the most generally popular young men who ever lived here. After getting through college and working in the grocer jobbing house of Kellogg-Birge, he moved to Duluth a few years ago to take a responsible executive position in the jobbing house of Gowan-Lenning-Brown company, where he remained until failing health compelled his retirement.
He was twenty-seven years old, born September 5, 1891, and married October 16, 1912, to Miss Viola Ness of Topeka, Kansas, who survives him with a daughter, Margery, four years old; his father, C. R. Joy; his brother, Carroll Joy, a cadet at the naval academy at Annapolis, and his sister, Mrs. Hugh J. Robertson.
Was Brilliant and Social
After attending the public schools of Keokuk, he went first to Knox college and then had a year at Princeton, after which he returned to Knox where he graduated in 1912. He had a brilliant mind and in college carried the work with ease, finding time for various college activities.
His tendencies were always very democratic, and his contact with his fellows was marked by much sincere geniality as well as hard sense. When he was a school boy he sold the Saturday Evening Post in Keokuk, and he never had any sympathy with snobs. When he was in high school here, and when he in later life worked here in the manufacturing and jobbing houses, no young man had more associates, friends and admirers than Ralph Joy.
He was a member of Plymouth Congregational church of Duluth, was a Mason, a member of the Modern Woodmen, and a member of Beta Theta Pi.
A Patriotism That Counts
His patriotism was expressed in very few works and much action. When he foresaw the entrance of America into the world war, he left a good position with a wholesale grocery house and enlisted in Company L, of the First Iowa national guard, which at that time contained hardly anybody in his own social set, but a bunch of real men who afterward helped make the 1168th infantry world famous.
He went on the Rio Grande exposition with the regiment, and while it was still at Camp Dodge was detailed to the quartermaster's department and made a sergeant. His record in the national guard and later in the national army was an excellent one, and he won high commendation from the officers over him by his efficient work.
Kept Out of the Army
He was in the supply company on the Rio Grande and when the troops were brought home, he returned, later entering active service at Fort Des Moines, and had charge of rationing the guards scattered all over the state at that time.
His captain, his colonel and the post commander at Fort Des Moines, all regular army men, later joined in recommending him for a commission in the national army, and it was ordered and awaited only the signature of President Wilson ot make him a lieutenant. His good work had earned this.
It was then that a regular army surgeon discovered that he had diabetes. In an effort to keep him in the army, and accede to his imploring arguments that he be retained, he was give a furlough for three months to try to remove the symptoms. He went to the best physicians in America, but obtained only a stationary condition of his disease. He was nearly heartbroken when he realized that it was impossible for him to go to France in the army.
His Hopes Were Blasted
He has not been in Keokuk much since he removed to Duluth. He came down last September to a family reunion here, and even then showed the great change in his physical condition.
But he had the same geniality that won him so many friends, and he greatly enjoyed meeting again his old acquaintances in Keokuk.
On his departure he told a close friend of his work in Duluth and his ambitions to rise in it to even bigger jobs, and his hope that by careful attention to diet and hygiene he might be able to withstand the diabetes for many years.
The body will arrive here Saturday morning, and the funeral will be held at the home of C. R. Joy, in Grand avenue, Saturday afternoon at 2:30 o'clock.
Daily Gate City and Constitution-Democrat, March 29, 191911335
RALPH B. JOY FUNERAL TODAY
It Was Attended by Many Friends at the Home of His Father in Grand Avenue, With Burial at Oakland
The funeral service for Ralph Brackett Joy was held at 3 o'clock at the home of his father, Clyde R. Joy, 816 Grand avenue, and was conducted by Rev. H. B. McElree, assisted by Rev. Mary C. Collins.
There was a large company of friends in attendance, bearing testimony to the high esteem in which the young man was held.
Burial was in the family lot in Oakland cemetery. The pallbearers were Cyrus E. Phillips, William A. Brugman, Edward W. McManus, Henry S. Walker, A. Gregg Olson and Charles F. Warwick.
The members of the Masonic fraternity of the city attended the services and had charge at the grave.
Census Records
| Date | Location | Enumerated Names |
|---|
| June 15, 19003416 | Keokuk, Lee, Iowa |
|
| April 25, 19103415 | Keokuk, Lee, Iowa |
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