JOYCE BEHM HARRIS
Joyce Behm Harris was born September 13, 1941, in Logansport, LA., to Orville and Lois (Glyn) Behm. She graduated from Logansport High School in 1959, and attended McNeese State University in Lake Charles, LA, graduating in 1963. She continued to pursue her higher education degree and earned a Master’s degree in Christian Education and a Master’s degree in counseling from Sioux Falls Seminary.
She was united in marriage to James Gordon Harris on March 24, 1967 in Logansport, LA. The family lived in Kentucky, Texas, Illinois, and Louisiana. In 1970, they were called into the mission field and moved to Baguio, Philippines where Joyce was a choir director and Gordon was an Old Testament professor.
They moved to Sioux Falls in 1975, where Gordon became an Old Testament professor at the Sioux Falls Seminary and Joyce became a music buyer at Crossroads Books and Music. As they raised their family, they became very involved in the Sioux Falls community and were active members of Trinity Baptist Church in Sioux Falls. For many years, Joyce enjoyed directing the children’s choir at the church and in her free time, she enjoyed traveling, quilting, biking and gardening.
Joyce was a wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, teacher, musician, singer, helper and dedicated Christian. She was generous, compassionate, caring, encouraging, supportive, accepting, kind, highly principled, and strove to make the world a better place. She did this through her daily life with various ministries, church, and organizations that made a positive impact in a broken world. She embodied authentic love. One of her proudest accomplishments was telling the story about her daughter, Joy, who had cystic fibrosis. She told the story by writing and publishing a book called “Blessed by Joy”, which tells the difficult journey through the eyes of a mother and has become an inspiration to others.
Grateful for having shared her life are her daughter, Jami (Wesley) Knight of Columbia, Missouri; sister, Jeannie (Ken) West of Leland, MS; son-inlaw, Mike (Ruth) Sauers and their son, Luke Sauers; sister-in-law Jane (Phil) Smith along with a host of nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her loving husband of 55 years, Gordon Harris; daughter, Joy Harris- Sauers; parents, Orville and Lois Behm of Logansport, LA; brothers, Don (Glenda) Behm of Berkly Heights, NJ, and Robert (Linda) Behm of Mansfield, LA.
Funeral Services were held December 17, 2022, at Trinity Baptist Church, in Sioux Falls.
