Joyce Wilson spent most of her 75 years in a wheelchair, but it never slowed her down.
She sang in and directed church choirs, spoke to other disabled people about managing their lives and could get most any place in her high-tech van.
Wilson died of ovarian cancer at her Littleton home March 27.
Wilson was on a visit to Southern California in 1955 when she was struck with polio.
She spent months in an iron lung, then moved back to Colorado. Over the years, she regained some use of her legs, using leg braces and crutches, until post-polio syndrome hit, and she spent the latter years of her life in a wheelchair, said her son, Richard Wilson of Clayton, Calif.
For the last 15 years, she was helped by a companion dog who was trained to help her open doors, turn on lights and even empty clothes from the dryer.
The black Labrador named Jerger was devoted to her, and although Jerger is weak with cancer, he managed to get up on her bed on the last day of her life in an apparent effort to comfort her. He had never climbed up on her bed before, said Wilson’s granddaughter, Cori Hamilton of Littleton.
“That dog was very important to her,” said Denise Williams of Littleton, who was a caretaker for Wilson.
Wilson sang in her church choir as well as in a women’s ensemble that traveled to Hawaii and Europe to give concerts.
“Joyce had a very good attitude and was always helping other people,” said Chris Finell of Highlands Ranch, who was a nurse at Craig Hospital where Wilson often went for evaluations.
She “was always joyful,” said Jeannie Schwabauer of Englewood, who knew Wilson through church. “You just don’t meet people like Joyce every day.”
Wilson spoke to patients at Craig who were facing mobility problems and to elementary school students about her high-tech wheelchair.
Wilson “faced an unpromising future” when she got polio, said Hamilton, and could have given up, “but she was a fighter and the most pleasant and encouraging person to be around, despite her life sentence to a wheelchair.”
Joyce Rohren was born in Goodland, Kan., on Oct. 9, 1934, and moved to Colorado with her family when she was a child.
She was married briefly and had her son during that marriage.
In 1958, she married Carl Wilson, and they adopted a little girl, Sheri.
In addition to her husband, son and granddaughter, Wilson is survived by her daughter, Sheri Svenson of Littleton; two other grandchildren; one great-grandchild; and her brother, Robert Rohren of Johnstown.
Virginia Culver: 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com
