Humanitarian Award

The Medical Center of Lewisville, Texas, presented their 1999 Humanitarian Award to Joyce M. Ashton, a mother of six, in recognition of her exemplary service to bereaved families. Joyce and her husband, Dennis, have lost two children: a young daughter who died in 1974 and a son named Cameron born in 1977 with cerebral palsy. The Ashtons nursed and cared for their son until his death in 1991 at the age of 14.

After Cameron’s death, the medical center asked Joyce if she would develop a program to help bereaved parents and family members deal with their grief after the death of a loved one. Since that time Joyce, who has a nursing degree, has worked with more than 100 families a year in the Dallas area. Her program offers resource material and an opportunity for parents and individuals facing the loss of loved ones to meet with those who have already experienced similar losses.

The Ashtons are from the Lewisville Second Ward, Lewisville Texas Stake.