Joyce & Don in 1994
Joyce Harter Buies, 77 of Warners died Friday January 3, 2003 at Loretto Fahey Residence, Syracuse.
Joyce was born in 1925 in Onondaga Hill, the youngest of five children born to Earl and Bessie Harter. In 1928 the family moved to Warners, NY where they operated a dairy farm. Joyce graduated from Warners High School and then attended Central City Business Institute before working as a secretary at General Electric.
She was married to Don Buies on August 1, 1945 - just hours before the Army shipped Don to Europe for World War II. Hours before the marriage, she and Don had received a court order allowing them to marry as Joyce was not yet 21 at the time.
Don worked at Newhouse Broadcasting for 26 years, first with WSYR-TV in Syracuse, and later as station manager at WSYE-TV in Elmira. The couple resided in Fairmount, Elmira and Liverpool before returning to the family farm in Warners in 1980.
Wherever they lived, Joyce and Don were active in the Methodist Church, not surprisingly since Don's father was a Methodist Minister. While living in Warners, Don was director of the Church Choir and Joyce was the Church's Treasurer.
They both shared a life-long love of music and enjoyed participating in S.P.E.B.S.Q.S.A. barbershop quartet activities for many years. Throughout her life, Joyce was the family caregiver, always willing to take charge and help out an ailing brother, sister, or parent.
She retained a strong tie to the family farm where she raised and collected flowers and plants that she dried and turned into crafts to be given to friends or sold at craft fairs. She was a familiar face in Warners where she was determined that the grass in her yard would always be mowed neatly and that leaves in the fall would be promptly cleaned up.
The couple never had any children of their own but served as "adopted" parents for many of their nephews and nieces who always treasured the times when they could spend a week or two with their aunt and uncle. It is suspected that the parents of the nephews and nieces also enjoyed the times when their children would spend a week or two with Joyce and Don.
Her husband, Don, passed away in 1996. Joyce is survived by her older sister, Rachel Auyer, of Liverpool, NY; by four sisters-in-law, Evelyn Harter of Camillus, NY, June Harter of Manlius, NY; Alberta Buies of Baldwinsville, NY; and Shirley Boylan of Greenacres, Florida, and by many nieces and nephews including Steve Auyer of Liverpool, NY David Auyer of Pittsburgh, PA Judy Boston of Honeoye Falls, NY James Jerome of Syracuse, NY Jeffrey Jerome of Winchester, VA Ellen Capone of Clearbrook, VA Phil Harter of Portsmouth, RI Sharon Hale of Manlius, NY Gary Harter of Phoenix, AZ Martin Boylan, Dodie Buies, Roger Buies
and friends who mourn her passing as she truly made the world a better place by her presence.
Funeral Services will be 2:00 pm Saturday, January 11 at B.L. Bush & Sons Funeral Home, 10 Genesee Street, Camillus.
Calling hour will be Saturday from 1:00 to 2:00 pm at the funeral home. Burial will be held in the spring at Tully Cemetery.
Contributions may be made to the Humane Association of Central New York, 4915-1/2 West Taft Road, P. O. Box 38, Liverpool, NY 13088.