COLUMBUS
Joy Watanabe Nixon, age 85, of Columbus, formally of Princeton, Indiana, passed away with family at her bedside at Silver Oaks Health Campus on January 30, 2018.
Joy was born December 6, 1932, in Garfield, Utah, a town in the foothills of the Oqirrh Mountains, to Yoshio and Fumi Beppu. Joy was of the Nisei generation and was raised in Salt Lake City, Utah, as one of nine children.
She married Jim Watanabe on April 28, 1954, and moved to Princeton.
Joy worked as a corporate secretary and retired from Sieman’s Corporation.
Joy and Jim raised their three children in Princeton, and Joy became affectionately known as “Wanda.”
Jim passed away in 1982.
Joy was a member of the Hillside Methodist Church and after her retirement, served as a Pink Lady volunteer at the Gibson County General Hospital.
Joy married Jack Nixon on June 11, 1987. She and Jack loved to travel and spend time with their family and many friends.
Joy and Jack especially loved spending time and sharing adventures with their two granddaughters, Brooke and Laura Anne.
Joy was preceded in death by her husbands, Jim Watanabe and Jack Nixon; her parents; and her brothers, Jay, Jerry, Robert, Kenneth and Thomas.
Joy is survived by her children, Alan (Jo Ellen) Watanabe of Columbus, Shauna (Mark Mindell) Watanabe of Trabuca Canyon, California, and Shelley (S. Dalrymple) Watanabe of Reno, Nevada; her stepson, Steve (Sandy) Nixon of Princeton; her grandchildren, Brooke Watanabe of Austin, Texas, Laura Anne Watanabe of Columbus and Brett Mindell of Trabuca Canyon, California; her sisters, Jane and Lois and her brother, Tosh (Dean); and many nieces and nephews.
Special thanks to the staff at Silver Oaks Health Campus in Columbus for their wonderful care and support.
Funeral services will be conducted at Hillside United Methodist Church, and burial at Columbia Church Cemetery, in Princeton, to be determined at a later date.
Memorials may be made to Our Hospice of South Central Indiana, 2626 17th Street, Columbus, IN, 47201; or Hillside United Methodist Church, 828 W Archer Rd, Princeton, IN 47670.
Arrangements were provided by Jewell-Rittman Family Funeral Home.
