Mother of Nevada lobbyist Joyce dies

Thursday, July 17, 2003 | 11:19 a.m.

Effie Joyce, waitress, nurse practitioner and the mother of one of Nevada's most powerful lobbyists and political consultants during her 60 years in Las Vegas, has died.

Joyce, 92, mother of the late Jim Joyce, died in her sleep at a Santa Monica, Calif., nursing home at about 5 a.m. Tuesday, her grandson Robin Joyce said.

"I remember her caring nature about everyone who ever needed help, or advice on life," Joyce said.

Born in Denver on Feb. 1, 1911, Effie and her husband, Austin James Joyce, moved to Las Vegas from Denver in 1945.

Austin took a job as a brakeman with Union Pacific Railroad. For her first job in Las Vegas, Effie Joyce became a waitress at Whitworth Cafe in downtown Las Vegas in 1946.

Then, in the words of her daughter Peggy Main, Joyce "fulfilled a lifelong dream."

Effie Joyce enrolled in classes at University Medical Center, then known as Southern Nevada Memorial Hospital, to become a licensed nurse practitioner.

She completed her training in 1956 and soon after took a position at the newly opened Sunrise Hospital.

After retirement, Joyce became active as a volunteer in many of her son Jim's campaigns, most notably that of Sen. Howard Cannon, D-Nev., for whom Joyce worked as a top aide for several years.

Jim Joyce managed more than 300 political campaigns in Nevada, winning 90 percent of them, often with his mother at his side.

The famous son attended Las Vegas High School in the 1950s with former Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., who remembered Effie Joyce well.

"I remember her because one of the first campaign signs I always put out was at her house," Bryan said of Joyce's house on Stewart Avenue. Bryan said that Joyce supported and nurtured her family.

"She came from a generation toughened by the Great Depression and the austerity of the war years," Bryan said.

In addition to her daughter, Peggy Main of Santa Monica, and her grandson Robin Joyce and his wife Patty of Las Vegas, Effie Joyce is survived by granddaughters Marilee Joyce of Washington, D.C., Jennifer Main of Santa Monica, and Susan Paquette and her husband Joe. There are two great grandchildren.

Mass will be celebrated at 9:30 a.m. on Monday at St. Joseph Husband of Mary Catholic Church, 7260 W. Sahara Ave. Graveside services will be at Bunker's Memory Gardens, 7251 W. Lone Mountain Road.

The family requests donations in Effie's memory to the American Lung Association of Los Angeles County, (800) 586-4872.