Joyce Evelyn Taglavore

     Joyce Evelyn Taglavore of Denton, MD, formerly of DeKalb, TX, passed away peacefully at her home in Denton on Sunday, September 27, 2020. She was 82 years old.

     Born in Jones, LA, Mrs. Taglavore was the daughter of the late Albert Brown and Pearl Richardson Brown. Her husband, Joseph L. Taglavore, passed away on October 12, 1984.

     Mrs. Taglavore retired from teaching as a Reading Specialist at the DeKalb, TX Elementary School in 2003 after 33 years. An avid gardener, she was also a faithful member of the Pinkham Memorial Baptist Church in DeKalb. She was very happy raising two children on a 200 acre farm north of DeKalb and would tend a 1 acre garden her husband and son would cultivate for her each spring. She enjoyed socializing with friends, neighbors and coworkers, sharing gardening tips and recipes and always attending her children's school and DeKalb Band events.

     She was very proud of sending her two children to Texas A&M without any debt and seeing them graduate. She was able to attend many performances of the Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band which her son was a member of. She was once even interviewed by the Dallas Morning News while attending the 1987 Cotton Bowl because she was a proud, fully marooned garbed Aggie Mom in the midst of the Ohio State Buckeyes fans.

     She was very proud of her children’s Navy service, supporting her daughter,Virginia, when she deployed to Antarctica and then served in the Desert Storm War, as well as her son, Patrick, when he served in Operation Restore Hope and Afghanistan. She loved to travel and was adventurous enough to fly twice to Europe, journeying first to Germany in 1992 to see her daughter Virginia’s family while they were stationed there, and then later to Italy in 1994 to see her son Patrick and his wife while he was stationed near Naples. Virginia even drove down from Germany with her family to visit her.

     She moved to Denton, MD in 2014 to live with her son and daughter-in-law, where she attended Wye Bible Church in Grasonville, MD with them. She would often tell friends and family that she was very happy and thankful to live in a nice mother-in-law suite provided by her son and his wife on the first floor and right next to the kitchen and coffee. She loved to sit out on the porch and talk to children as they got off the Caroline School buses, befriending many of them. Every Halloween for the past 5 years, she would sit on the porch and hand out candy to every child that would come by, remarking on how wonderful they looked. She also enjoyed having her daughter, Virginia, as well as her grandson Kevin, living close enough for visits. As conversing became more difficult for her due to her declining health, Virginia sent letters weekly during her last few months. She always looked forward to them, and reread them often.

     She loved people and would strike up a conversation with anyone, anytime and any place. She really never met a stranger, and she especially loved those with a smile, invariably calling them pretty or handsome because of their “beautiful smiles”. Babies and young children were always her passion and she loved to talk to them and their parents wherever she met them, making a walk in and out of a restaurant, grocery store or church a long, leisurely meet, greet and cooing stroll.

     Mrs. Taglavore is survived by her son, Patrick B. Taglavore and daughter-in-law, Jean, of Denton; a daughter, Virginia Ann Taglavore of Glen Burnie, MD; three grandchildren: Kevin S. Mitchell, Joseph P. Taglavore, and Ann Marie Taglavore, as well as 3 step sons from her husband’s previous marriage, Al, Anthony, and Tommy Taglavore along with their extended families. She was predeceased by two brothers, J.W. Brown and Albert, Jr. Brown, and three sisters: Jewel, Patsy, and Dorothy.

     A local Celebration of Life will be held at Wye Bible Church in Grasonville, MD on Saturday, October 3rd at 2:00 P.M. A graveside service will be held at the New Hope Baptist Church Cemetery in DeKalb, TX on Saturday, October 10th at 2:00 p.m., where she will be laid to rest beside her husband.

     If friends wish to send memorial donations, the family suggests sending them to Little Lamb Preschool, a ministry of Wye Bible Church, at 115 Narnia Drive, Grasonville, MD 21638. As a former teacher, she loved children and often attended preschool programs there, where her daughter-in-law taught.

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