Joyce Farr

Joyce was born in 1923 and lived in Portland until she attended the University of Oregon, where she met Len Farr.  They married in 1943 before Len was sent overseas for service in WWII and Joyce moved to Marshfield which became Coos Bay in 1944. Their first daughter, Susan, was born while Len was stationed with the Army Medical Corps in Europe.  Len joined them after his war service and their family grew to include daughters Nancy and Janet, and son Jay.  Although they lived in Coos Bay from then on, after Len’s retirement from Farr’s Hardware, they traveled and worked as volunteers all over the world on 43 different projects including polio vaccination in Africa, latrine and stove building in India, and establishing a cottage industry of weaving in Portugal.  That was one of their last projects and was based on Joyce’s passion and skills.  Len and Joyce were not only lifelong Oregonians; they considered themselves to be citizens of the world.  

Joyce referred to herself as a “fiberholic.”  She sewed all of her daughters’ clothes and coats until they also learned to sew.  She had a variety of looms and spinning wheels and also dyed the yarns she spun.  She was fond of announcing, “I’m going downstairs to dye.”  

In addition to their four children, they shared their home and family life with three American Field Service high school exchange students—Ute from Germany, Alex from Chile, and Susanne from Denmark—and Jay’s friend Ted during their senior year at Marshfield High. 

With an empty nest, Joyce opened a weaving and knitting store in Bandon with two other partners.  Len said Joyce was the original hippie, but perhaps feminist was the better moniker.  A woman once came into Westerly Webs and introduced herself as “Mrs. her husband’s name.”  Joyce replied, “Don’t you have a name of your own?”

Joyce was generous and open-minded.  She was a lifelong universal blood donor to Red Cross.  On election nights, she worked as a volunteer well into the night tallying votes.  Once Joyce was introduced to a new concept or skills, she was determined to learn everything and brought her perfectionism to each task.  She learned to swim in the Bay Area and became a Red Cross swimming instructor.  Both Len and Joyce were private pilots and owned a plane with Len’s brother.  When Ute brought yoga into the home, Joyce picked it up and practiced it for years after.   Later in life, she walked over two and a half miles every day up and down the hills of Coos Bay.  

After Len died, she chose to live at Evergreen Court where she could overlook the Bay.  For the last 3 years of her life, she was lovingly cared for by her children and wonderful caregivers at Amazing Grace Adult Care Home in North Bend.

She is survived by her sister, Sara Mae Wiedmaier in Beaverton;  her children and their spouses, Susan (Otto Wassenaar in Groningen, The Netherlands), Nancy (Dale Sekijima in Winthrop, WA), Jay (Vicki Crumpacker, in Coos Bay), and Janet (Rodney Eiger, in Chicago, IL); five grandchildren and their families, Maaike, Eelco and Doeke Wassenaar (in The Netherlands), Will Farr (in Stony Brook, NY), and Lillie Eiger (in London, England); six great-grandchildren; ‘adopted’ children, Ute Preisser, Ted Cookson and Susanne Testrup; and many nieces and nephews.

Arrangements are under the care of Coos Bay Chapel, 541-267-3131. Family and friends are invited to sign the online guestbook at www.coosbayareafunerals.com

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