Joyce Kay Fulton Elkins brought light, fierce protection, and boundless compassion to everyone she touched. Whether she was standing as an unyielding guardian for public safety, holding her family together through decades of hardship, or bringing joy to neighbors and animals alike, she lived a life of extraordinary impact and profound grace.

Joyce grew up in Pittsburg, Kansas and graduated from Pittsburg High School in 1972.

She and Kerry Lee Elkins met as students at Kansas State College of Pittsburg (now Pittsburg State University), where Joyce was studying micro-biology, and they were married for nearly 47 years. When he became disabled, Joyce carried the family through the rest of his life on top of everything else she was already carrying — she even went back for a master's degree in the middle of raising the family, and somehow also found time for piano lessons and, for a while, taekwondo, because sitting still without learning something new was never really in her nature. She was just as stubborn about not missing what mattered — once, when work threatened to keep her from one of Amber's basketball games, Kerry told her it would be fine to skip just this one. She got so upset at the idea that she made it anyway.

Joyce was preceded in death by her husband Kerry; her parents, Geneva (Ginger) Pence Fulton and Andrew Braidwood (Bud) Fulton; and her brother, Jack Fulton. She is survived by her brothers, James (Jim) Fulton and Jay Fulton, her sister-in-law Judy Fulton, her son Aaron Elkins, and her daughter, Dr. Amber D. Elkins, along with loving family and friends — among them Peggy Winfrey, Deb Erickson, Michael Saylor, Vickie Norton, and Cheryl Wagstaff, the small, close circle of friends who meant the most to her over the years. A celebration of life will be planned in Leavenworth, Ks on a date to be determined.