Joan Estes Rice, 83, passed away on Friday, January 23, 2015 in Anchorage. She was born August 28, 1931, in Rushville, Illinois in Schuyler County to Truman and Elizabeth A. (Illman) Estes. She married Lloyd G. Rice on August 7, 1949 at the Mt. Zion Methodist Church in rural Rushville. They had four daughters and one son, Joyce Irene (David) Ambler of Cambria; Mary Lou (Gene) Ward of Jacksonville; Stephen Lloyd Rice of Anchorage, Alaska; Alice Joan Thomas of Jacksonville; and Janice Louise Mansfield of Anchorage, Alaska. Joan graduated from Rushville High School in 1949. She worked at Dennis Chicken Plant in Augusta for 6 years and then at Mobil Chemical in Jacksonville for 21 years, retiring in 1986. Joan was a long-time member of Lincoln Avenue Baptist Church in Jacksonville, IL, was a member of the First Baptist Church in Carterville, IL while living in Cambria, and attended the First Baptist Church in Anchorage. She was preceded in death by husband Lloyd who died February 9, 1994; her parents, sister Mary Frances Cunningham, sons-in-law Larry Thomas and William Mansfield, and great grandson Adam Rice. Joan has 14 grandchildren, 2 step grandchildren, 22 great grandchildren and 8 step great grandchildren. Her sisters, Doris Irene (Eldon) Vaughn, and Betty Lou (Larry) Paisley, and brother-in-law, Russel Cunningham, are of Rushville. She also has many nieces and nephews.
Memorial services for Joan’s Anchorage family and friends will be held 2:00 p.m. Saturday, January 31, 2015 at the First Baptist Church, 1100 West Tenth Ave in Anchorage with a reception immediately following the services. Additional services will be held in Illinois. Memorials may be made to Caring Voice Coalition, Inc., 8249 Meadowbridge Road, Mechanicsville, VA 23116; or to Providence Hospice, 4001 Dale Street, Anchorage, AK 99508.

Arrangements were cared for by the Anchorage Funeral Home.