As a young reporter for The Daily Chronicle, I met real estate agent Joyce Barnes while we both attended Centralia City Commission meetings. She never shied away from asking questions or seeking clarification of where and how the three commissioners spent taxpayer dollars, and I quickly jotted down her questions and their answers for public consumption.
It’s hard to believe it was more than four decades ago, and like many people in Lewis County, I heard the news of her passing on Friday at 91 with sorrow but appreciation for a life well lived.
For many years, whenever I bumped into Joyce, I found her in the company of her best friend and former sister-in-law, Bonnie Canaday. Later, after Bonnie married Lee Coumbs, I’d see the threesome together — Joyce, Bonnie and Lee. All three served on the Centralia City Council, volunteered together at Summerfest Fourth of July celebrations, and loved their community.
“We were more like sisters, and it was my honor and privilege to be with her when the angels came to take her to heaven,” Bonnie said. “We talked on the phone or saw each other every day. I will miss her but know where she is and that she has no more pain.”
In the mid-1980s, when I covered Centralia’s transition from a commissioner to a council-manager form of government, Joyce was among the first to sign up to seek election to one of the seven open council seats. Others on that first council elected in 1985 included Mayor Lee Coumbs, Jay Winter, Gordon Winter, Vondean Thompson, Sam Martin and Carl Hemenway. After a nationwide search, the new council hired its first city manager, Pat Scheidel of Narragansett, Rhode Island.
Many who served on the inaugural Centralia City Council in 1986 have passed away, most recently Joyce and Lee, who died on Dec. 9, 2024. Earlier, we lost Carl Hemenway on May 7, 2014; Jay Winter on July 19, 2015; and Vondean Thomspon on Jan. 10, 2018.
As a reporter, I especially appreciated Joyce because she’d let me know whenever she suspected untoward or suspicious behavior by city officials, putting a bug in my ear so I could call up to ask questions to probe further. It’s the closest I ever felt to Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein with my own Deep Throat mole on the inside. Of course, Centralia never had a Watergate, but I enjoyed following leads to find out what I could and break the news for readers.
That’s what I liked about Joyce — she put citizens first and foremost, above her political aspirations or the accolades of fellow council members. She didn’t kowtow to a political party or its leader. Instead, she was a maverick who asked questions without hesitation and took her responsibility seriously as a representative of the people who elected her.
Too many politicians, it seems, assume office to pursue their own agendas or those of the leader of their political party. The independent thinkers, those self-sacrificing people who are willing to buck the establishment, ask tough questions, and refuse to buckle under peer pressure appear few and far between. Joyce was one of those — special, rare, and with a heart of gold.
Accolades for Joyce flooded Facebook after the news of her death broke.
“She was such a good friend. What a tireless advocate for Centralia!” said Edna Fund, a former council member and Lewis County commissioner.
“It seems like she was everywhere, at college and community events, serving on the city council, charitable groups, you name it,” wrote Steve Ward, retired Centralia College vice president.
“Joyce had a heart for Centralia,” Chris Brewer, Centralia’s deputy mayor, said in thanking her for her “dedication and love for the Hub City and its people!”
Neil Amondson described her as “a political warrior and strong public servant.”
“Joyce loved Centralia and served her city faithfully,” Centralia Mayor Kelly Smith Johnston said.
“Joyce was an amazing person and public servant,” 20th District Rep. Peter Abarrno said. “She was full of love and passion for Centralia!”
Olga Miller described her as “a wonderful woman with a servant’s heart.”
Joyce was born on Dec. 27, 1933, in Ventura, California, and first moved to Centralia in 1949 after marrying Wayne Glover Barnes. In February 1960, she married Bonnie’s brother, Andrew Verne Erwin. For several years, she divided her time between Washington and California until permanently settling in Lewis County in 1971. She raised four children and worked as a real estate agent. Later, she and Bonnie formed the Canaday/Barnes Rental Investments.
“I’ve been community-minded ever since I came here,” Joyce told a reporter in December 1999. “I think it’s important for people to make a difference.”
And she did. Joyce served on the Chehalis-Centralia Airport Board, the Centralia City Council three different times, and Historic Centralia and Destination Centralia, groups aimed at drawing tourists to the community. She also served on the planning commission and participated in Altrusa, a women’s service organization.
Although she never learned to swim, she was known throughout the community as a strong advocate for maintenance and retention of Veterans Pearl Street Pool, which she promoted every summer for 25 years. She wanted a place where families and children could have fun swimming together. The city shut down the pool in 2011 and permanently closed it in February 2023.
Joyce also promoted the city’s efforts to purchase property for a new wastewater treatment plant, which she listed that as one of her proudest achievements as a council member. And she described herself as a penny pincher when looking at the city’s budget, questioning any expenditure she didn’t understand to ensure the city didn’t waste taxpayer dollars. She served on the council from 1986 to 1988 and again from 1994 to 1995 and then from 1996 until retiring after a four-year term, including time as mayor pro tem.
The headline of an April 2001 Chronicle feature stated, “Transplant loves Centralia so much she promotes it in her free time.”
“If you want beautiful surroundings, good family fun and a historic atmosphere, Centralia is the place to be,” she told a reporter. She abandoned her sunny California roots for webbed feet to navigate Washington’s wet weather. She passed out promotional brochures to train passengers, staffed a booth publicizing Centralia and Lewis County at a Seattle travel show, and offered tours of downtown Centralia to visitors.
Joyce, you will be missed, and I am blessed to have called you a friend.
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Julie McDonald, a personal historian from Toledo, may be reached at memoirs@chaptersoflife.com.
