Joye Kading

Joye M. Kading passed away December 15, 2018 at the family home in Casper, Wyoming. She was born Cleona Joye Marshall on December 31, 1922 in Omaha, Nebraska to Clifford Dale and Cleona Adolphine Marshall. Her parents had homesteaded a dairy ranch East of Gillette, Wyoming after the cessation of World War I but had returned to Omaha so that her mother could receive additional care with a difficult pregnancy. Her parents, delighted with a healthy child, named her Joye. The Marshalls returned to Gillette after mother and child's recovery and continued dairy operations for several years. Two sons followed, Clifford Jr. and Jack. The Great Depression led to the loss of the ranch. Dale Marshall Sr. became the Superintendent for a Camp of the Civilian Conservation Corps. The Camp and the family were located in Saratoga, WY for a year before moving to Casper Mountain in 1936. Joye graduated from NCHS in 1940 having studied business. She began working as a public stenographer at the Henning Hotel. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the United States War Department needed to build a facility in Wyoming. Joye was involved with the Casper Army Air Base, now the Natrona County International Airport, from its inception. The base served as a final training base for heavy bombers. She took the shorthand notes of meetings, typed the records and prepared documents for the officers who obtained the land and built the base. She then became secretary to a succession of Base Commanders. She met her future husband, Frank E. Kading, when he transferred to the base as a quartermaster officer. They married June 21, 1945. Frank and Joye started their family business, Advance Electric, Inc. in Casper in 1947. Joye did not usually work at the shop but instead worked as a secretary for the Texaco Refinery and for various oil firms, attorneys and physicians. After the births of her children, Joye continued to work from home by typing well log reports for several local geologists. She was very active in the community, she joined the Eastern Star in 1941 and the VFW Auxiliary in 1945. She presided over the Teton Chapter of the National Secretaries Association and the Desk and Derrick Club. She belonged to many other organizations, served on the Camp Fire Girls Central Wyoming Council and was particularly proud of her membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution. As the 50th anniversary of WWII approached, Joye became involved with organizing two reunions of the Casper Army Air Base personnel. Working in concert with other local people who were at the base and with local veteran's organizations, she helped to successfully stage the two events. These activities along with her growing realization regarding the lack of recognition for the sacrifices made by veterans led her to campaign for the establishment of a museum dedicated solely to military personnel. The state of Wyoming had no such facility at the time. Joye and Frank with a committee of volunteers set to work. They obtained the old serviceman's club building at the airport and began to create a museum. This structure held special significance because the interior walls of the main room were painted with a series of murals depicting the history of Wyoming. These murals had been created with chalks or oils by army enlisted servicemen stationed at the base and had remained in presentable condition. In fact, Governor Lester Hunt wrote a letter soon after the building was dedicated expressing his desire that this building and murals should be kept for the posterity of the people of Wyoming. Joye had kept a copy of the letter. Joye along with a large group of volunteers began to build a museum. They received donations large and small from across the country; in materials, monies and expertise. Veterans donated items from their time serving their country so that the items could be displayed and the histories of the men and women could be remembered. Joye volunteered to run the museum. She especially desired that each veteran's stories be an important part of the museum experience and made it a point to relate them as she conducted tours. Her efforts culminated in the adoption of the volunteer museum by the State of Wyoming as the Wyoming Veterans Memorial Museum. Joye is survived by her two children, Frank Dale Kading and Cleona Joye Kading, Jr., both of whom are electrical engineers. She was preceded in death by her husband Frank in 1996. She was also preceded in death by her parents, Dale and Cleona, her brothers, Clifford Jr. and Jack, and her cousin Robert Steinhoefel. A memorial service will be held at the Oregon Trail Veterans Cemetery Chapel on Thursday, December 27, 2018 at 2:00 P.M. A reception will follow at the Wyoming Veterans Memorial Museum, 3740 Jourgensen Ave., at the NCIA. Memorial contributions may be made to Central Wyoming Hospice, 319 S Wilson St, Casper, WY 82601 or the Wyoming Veteran's Memorial Museum, 3740 Jourgensen, Casper, WY, 82604

Service

Thursday, December 27, 2018 2:00pm

Oregon Trail Veterans Cemetery (Evansville)

80 Veterans Road

EVANSVILLE, WY 82636

Interment

Oregon Trail State Veterans Cemetery (Evansville)

80 Veterans Road

EVANSVILLE, WY 82636