Joyce Keller loved Santa Cruz, California. She said that the happiest times in her life were during the years she lived there from 2000 to 2022. She traveled extensively around the United States and visited Europe three times.

For many years, she worked as a teacher and psychotherapist in Ohio and Seattle, Washington. After moving to Santa Cruz in 2000, she founded a poetry venue at the central library called “Poet/Speak” which continues today.

Her favorite project was a class she taught at the Louden Nelson Center from 2001 to 2017 called “Creative Writing For Fun”

Her survivors include a son, Benjamin Schackman who lives in Lahania, Maui and a daughter, Kate Kirton-Brooks who lives in Jackson, Tennessee with her husband, Cody Brooks. She has three sons and several grandchildren who all live in Tennessee.

Before Joyce died, she said, “I don’t know if there is an afterlife but I am grateful to have lived in paradise for 18 years.