Joan Arlene Layton passed into Heaven on September 27, 2020, at home in Lake Shastina, California.
She was born in Santa Cruz, CA on March 17, 1936, to Laverne and Claire Roth. They would divorce; she was officially adopted by Oscar Herd and Claire in Rhode Island, 1943. They moved to Forks, WA where she graduated in 1952. She was active in those years with music, 4H, and horses.
There were two marriages that produced children Denise and Bradley, then Randall and Scott. By 1970 she found and married the love of her life, Charles Layton, and they were together for 50 years. They also had a son, Charles Bernard “Chip” Layton, Jr. in 1972.
The Laytons were relocated to Brookings, OR by that time, and Charles ran a successful insurance agency with Joni at his side. They remained active in the community, and enjoyed the outdoors and traveling all over the world. Eventually, they moved to Sunriver, OR, and then to Talent and in later years, to Lake Shastina in CA. They enjoyed watching their kids grow up and have children of their own and family remained very important to them.
In her later years, she battled various ailments and yet fought all those greatly despite the difficulties. Her faith and her loving bond to her husband kept her going.
She was preceded in death by son Bradley in 1960; daughter Denise in 2000. Denise had three children, Molly, Shandy and Shane; Randy with three sons, Matthias, Christian, and Kyle. Scott has four children, Alex, Ashley, Bradley and Sam. Chip’s two sons are Parker and Hayden. She enjoyed all of these grandchildren and several great-grandkids also.
Joni is missed by all of us, but we are grateful she is now in the arms of the Lord, who she served and looked forward to seeing for so many years.