Joye Harwell

Graveside services for Joye Murphy Harwell, 94 of Skiatook, were held at 11:00 A.M. on Thursday, August 18, 2016 at Clinton City Cemetery in Clinton, Oklahoma. Interment was under the direction of Peters-Stumpff Funeral Home. Joye passed away on August 13, 2016, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She was born on November 6, 1921 in Foss, Oklahoma to Curtis and Grace Elva (Trimble) Murphy. Joye was a graduate of Foss High School and continued her education at Oklahoma University in Norman. During her time at OU she worked part time in the Mathematics and Astronomy Department as a secretary and librarian. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry and a minor in mathematics. After graduating Joye went to work at Humble Oil and Refining Company laboratories in Houston, Texas. A few years after the war ended she moved to Austin to enter the University of Texas, worked part time as a research assistant in the chemistry department and earned a Master degree in chemistry with a minor in physics. She remained there afterwards, working full time in the chemistry department for the next nine years. While employed there she took a three month leave of absence and with two friends and an automobile, crossed the Atlantic Ocean on the new USS United States cruise ship to England and toured Western Europe for seventy-five days. It was the trip of a lifetime. Joye worked at the University of Texas until she married Dr. Kenneth Harwell in 1961. They moved to Ponca City, Oklahoma where Kenneth was employed at Continental Oil Company, Joye also became employed with the same company for a time. Later they moved to the Kansas City area where they lived for the next twenty-four years. Joye worked for a brief time during those years. After Kenneth retired they lived a few months in Austin, Texas and then moved to Skiatook. Joye is survived by her friends and caregivers. She was preceded in death by her parents, husband Kenneth, and a brother Neil who was killed in a bombing run over Germany while serving as copilot in a B-17 bomber during World War II.

Joye Harwell

November 6, 1921 - August 13, 2016