HELPER – Joy Christensen Bera, age 84, passed away December 3, 2020 in Provo, Utah surrounded by her daughter Denise, son Mike and their children.
Joy was born October 8, 1936 in Spring Glen, Utah to Royal and Elizabeth Christensen.
Married Angelo Bera, January 27, 1955 in Salt Lake City, Utah. They were married 53 years and were lifelong residents of Helper, Utah.
Mom worked for 24 years in home health care for Southeastern Utah Health Department and Southeastern Utah Association of Local Governments starting out as a home health aide. She later became the case manager over all aides for the Aging and Waiver Programs for Carbon/Emery/Grand counties. She dedicated herself to her job and her clients, always putting their needs first. She spent many hours throughout all three counties, conducting in-person visits in her patient’s homes to assess their every need. She was their greatest advocate, a caregiver and most importantly their friend and someone they could trust with their health and wellbeing. Her patients truly looked forward to her visits, as did she. She painstakingly documented her charts by hand combing over all of the details to insure everyone was taken care of.
The term “history buff” can’t even begin to describe the passion mom had for the history of Carbon and Emery counties. She spent many years collecting history and stories from many different community and family resources to fill binder after binder that she stored in her home library. She had a wealth of knowledge and was contacted by many people and organizations including Brigham Young University for information from her personal history bank. She helped several families across the states find a missing family member’s gravesite and even aided in getting a headstone in place for them if need be. She was also a great asset to her grandkids when it came time for history fair.
Mom loved working on genealogy. She spent many hours dragging dad (or maybe it was dad dragging her just for a chance at another road trip) to cemeteries to do her research.
Mom was a member of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers, Carbon County Historical Society and Utah State Historical Society.
Although she had great passion for her job and history/genealogy, she was first a mother and grandmother; and she loved her kids. We all have many special memories with our mother and grandmother, but the one we all hold in common in a very special place in our hearts is breakfast at Grandma’s. There always seemed to be a never-ending supply of coffee, fried potatoes, beans, tortillas, bacon and loving conversation. Whether you were having breakfast with Grandma solo or as a family it was always the same and it didn’t matter what time you rolled into Royal Way, she was always up and ready to feed you and hear everything and anything you wanted to or needed to tell her. She will be greatly missed by us all leaving a hole in our family that can’t be filled or replaced. From her funny word mix-ups, the smell of her perfume, her perfect hugs, the world’s best peanut butter no-bake cookies, and countless hours spent snuggling with us all on the porch swing. She loved watching the Hallmark and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries channels and comparing notes with her granddaughters. Her great-grandchildren Journey and Rogan are really going to miss their weekly FaceTime calls with their Grandma Great.
The family would like to give a special thanks to Dr. Assay and his office. As well as the many other doctors, nurses and nurses’ aides who cared for her at Timpanogos Hospital, Utah Specialty Hospital and Provo Rehabilitation & Nursing.
Joy is survived by her four children, Denise Bera, Roosevelt, Brenda (Jason) Chambers, Wellington, Tammy (Drew) Demler, Logan, Mike (Valarie) Bera, Price; seven grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.
Private graveside service, Tuesday, December 8, 2020, 2:00 p.m., Mt. View Cemetery in Helper. Arrangements entrusted to Mitchell Funeral Home where friends are always welcome daily and may share memories online at www.mitchellfuneralhome.net