I met James and Joymarie in Norman, Oklahoma, during the summer prior to their marriage in 1982, so I was privileged to know them at the best time of their lives! Romance was in the air, that’s for sure, but somehow we also managed to work on linguistics, too, specifically Advanced Grammatical Analysis. As a Teaching Assistant, I really enjoyed sharing my love for Guatemala, using stories in the K’iche’ language to illustrate grammatical lessons. A K’iche’ speaker was in the student body that semester, a friendship I also shared with James and Joymarie.

The wedding photo taken in September 1982 is how I will always remember James and Joymarie: young lovers. The genuineness of their love for one another was tested and proved strong over the next 39 years. I wish I had stayed in touch during those years, as we had many things in common: having a family of one daughter and four sons, homeschooling, creating original songs and Bible lessons, and faithfully loving and serving one another in a marriage with disabilities. We never lived in the same place again, and Dallas is a long way from Redding. In Dallas, I got to know Joymarie’s parents, her sister Edie, and niece Sarah. Wayne told me about the crisis Joymarie and James were facing after her surgery. I am thankful for Facebook Chat (me too, Sarah Tomes) that allowed me to reconnect with James early this year, and for God’s having given Joymarie a bonus month of life beyond her emergency surgery so we could remember together some of those good times almost forty years ago.

A lifetime is just a breath; forty years feels as if we just blinked and here we are, old! Heaven, though, will be forever, so I look forward to that. Joymarie got to meet Jesus face to face sooner than the rest of us, but when our turn comes, we also must be ready to run into His arms like she surely did. “The Eternal God is our refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.” Deu. 33:27 Jesus paid it all. He has her safely in His arms. I'm praying for the Dunlap and Dye family.

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My tribute to an amazing woman of God who in mow in heaven.Joymarie Dunlap. This prayer is one she did that reveals the deep love she had for God. Sincerely, Jerry Robinson

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"Dear Lord, I give you my hands to do Your work; I give You my feet to go Your way; I give You my eyes to see as You see; I give You my tongue to speak Your words; I give You my mind that You may think in me; I give You my spirit that You may pray in me. Above all, I give You my heart that You may love in me - love the Father and love all humankind. I give You my whole self, Lord, that You may grow in me, so that it is You who lives, works and prays in me. I pray this in Jesus name, Amen."

Aunt Joymarie and I connected over Facebook several years ago and we talked many times through Facebook Messenger. We did not talk frequently, but it was consistent across many years and I am thankful that we had this way to get to know each other better. She was willing to share her experiences of childhood -- much good, in addition to the bad -- and she encouraged me as I went through health issues and the losses that resulted from that. (Even though my health problems are not as bad as hers were; they still are often very limiting for me). I have appreciated getting to know her to the extent that I was able to through these discussions. When I think of interacting with her personally in these private conversations, my strongest memories are of kindness and complimenting my artistic creativity (which is not as skillful as hers) and interesting story-sharing, shining a new perspective on some events that I had heard about throughout my life. Through getting to know her, I have been able to understand my own family better, which is a good thing. I wish I could have brought peace to the relationships between her and her parents and siblings. I prayed often for that and tried to bring both sides to a place where reconciliation could become safe for each person, but to no avail.  I understand and accept her distance from our extended family, but I have often lamented it. I am so grateful that she is now completely at peace.

Joy and James chose to send gifts to my baby girl in honor of her birth last year. That really meant a lot to me. She sent some toy birds that play authentic songs when squeezed, a rattle, and a plush hide-and-seek octopus with little sea creatures that tuck into pockets on its legs, or remove for play. Janie really enjoys playing with these things. When I see her playing with them, I think of my Aunt Joymarie and her determination to share wonderful gifts with us despite her own difficult circumstances. I am thankful for her.

Even though I only met my Aunt Joy a handful of times (since she lived far away), she has been involved in many of my memories. As I am starting to raise my baby girl and am thinking of my own early childhood, I think of her often. She made me a sock-doll that looked almost like a regular kid doll (rather than a sock monkey). It had long, curly hair (made out of the sock material) and wore a pretty green dress, and she made all of that for me. She made some of my other early dolls (including, I think, a real sock monkey) as well. My Mom told me about how my Aunt Joy made her own veil for her wedding, with intricate beading. My Mom was always proud of her sister when she shared this story. For as long as I can remember, I have been told by my family that I remind them of Aunt Joy. I wish she could have been a bigger part of our lives, but I am so happy that she is now completely healthy and with Jesus forever.

Joymarie was my little sister and is my little sister in heaven!
Joy always had a vivid imagination. We didn’t have very many toys when we were young, but together, we made do. I remember Joy and I pretending that our colored pencils were families. I believe it was her idea. The tall ones were the adults and the shorter pencils were the children. When we were ages four and five, we could play this for hours.
Later, when we were in Junior High, we also used our imaginations. On vacation we slept in an attic that was lined with foil. At first, we took turns telling what we saw in the crinkled reflections of the foil. Later we learned to make up stories together, taking turns deciding the characters and their adventures. I think this had an affect on the fact that we won first and second place in a writing contest for about 5,000 teens all over the world.
Joy took her imagination much further than I did. She had a whole file full of fairy tale comic books that she wrote and drew. I always admired her for that skill.
I really appreciated Joy’s creative skills when she took over the little school that I started in Wagu village in the jungle. I got it started but she really made it take off after I left. I wasn’t there, but from her letters, it was her year to shine the brightest!
Joy and I lived through some very difficult circumstances as little children, starting with our earliest years of moving around and babysitters while our parents were preparing for the mission field. She cried a lot with the bugs and the heat and the other discomforts of the jungle when we got to the village too. Looking back on it, I learned that my responses weren’t always normal. I realize now that hers was the more normal response. We were both being traumatized and I learned to live with using dissociation. This was not healthy for me when I grew up. It was helpful to have her to compare my responses with.
I will always treasure the letters I got recently from Joy. She asked if we could hear cicadas here in Costa Rica. I told her no, but I didn’t realize it just wasn’t the season. Now every time I hear them, I want to tell her yes!
It is amazing to know that someone else remembered so many of the same things I remember!

We, John & Marie Champ plus 2 of our eventual 3 daughters (Kristen and Karen) were new to Papua New Guinea and the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL).  We came in 1976 but in 1977 we were living across the "street" from the Dyes (Wayne and Sally, and Joy and Jamey that we remember; we were living in Dick Miller's house, as we played the musical houses game that the PNG Branch did as a matter of fact; but the Dye's had their own house and did't have to play the game like we did). We contracted Hepatitis A from one of our Papua New Guinean friends at that point.  Joy, who must have been a Junior in High School, came to our house daily for several months as we recovered and washed our dishes that were kindly furnished by fellow members of the Ukarumpa community.  She was a delightful and cheerful face to our drudgery of recovering from Hepatitis A.  She did all of that with a loving spirit and we were very grateful.  That was a chore, washing our dishes with a disinfectant, Dettol, as we remember.  That would be something that Wayne and Sally would remember and who were also interested in Anthropology as was our Marie, who ended up being the Anthro coordinator for the PNG Branch of SIL that. We have continued to maintain a relationship with Wayne and Sally, including serving together at the Dallas International Center  and therefore knew of Joy Marie's health struggles over the years.

John and Marie

One of the last acts of kindness that Joymarie did was in the PCU ward at Shasta Regional Med Ctr. In the bed next to hers was a woman roughly her age named Susan that had a son and 2 granddaughters that came and visited her a few times. In the night, when no visitors were allowed, Joymarie tried to comfort Susan (in her post-ICU, slow, young-childish voice). She told her, "My husband and I will come visit you and sing to you." Susan was touched. "Why would you do that for me?" she asked. The next night Susan died in the night from low blood pressure. It was kind of a foreshadowing of Joymarie's own passing, a week and a few days later. Joymarie always cared about the needs of the poor, disadvantaged, sick, and lonely. She couldn't always do very much, but she did what she could. Including comforting Susan during her last days on the earth.

i didn't know Joymarie as a real life friend, but I was blessed by her writings in the Teaching Home magazine in the 1990's,, and then later, her own Famiiy Discipleship magazine which I really appreciated. I was struck but the creative simplicity of her ideas, and the biblical nuggets of wisdom she shared for  the homeschooling family, She will receive a reward from Jesus for the heartfelt encouragement she gave to to many  homeschool moms,  I am sorry to  hear of the loss of JoyMarie, especially to  James and the Dunlap family.  May God comfort and guide you in the days ahead!

With her husband, on her trip to see the Oregon Trail to research for her novel — with James Dunlap and Joy Marie Dunlap

With her penpal, on her trip to see the Oregon Trail to research for her novel — with Susan Pearce

From Joy, I learned 

• how to love unconditionally
• how to stand up for the truth whatever the cost
• how to die to myself in order to be alive to God and usable to Him
• how to work and serve without complaining, resenting, or feeling put out
• how to be responsible and keep diligent track of important things
• how to think of others' needs before my own
• how to humble myself in real terms and receive God's grace
• how to seek God constantly and look to Him in every decision of life
• how to appreciate small things and be small, like a child, to God, while still being a responsible servant
• and much, much more!

I don't claim to have matured in all of these things she taught me, but each of them has taken substantial hold in my life and will bear fruit in due time. I thank God for one of the greatest works that Joy accomplished in her life, raising me as one would a child and as a disciple of Christ.