Joyce Maienschein, 92, died on November 1, 2020. She graduated from Indiana State Teacher's College (now ISU) in 1947. She became a Girl Scout at age 10, which led to a lifetime of Girl Scouting.



She and her husband, Fred, moved to the Atomic City - Oak Ridge, Tennessee in 1949. In 1960, she began 16 years as a Girl Scout Troop leader. Her troop established a Braille program for Girl Scouts to teach the blind and related activities; organized the first Oak Ridge recycling program and the predecessor to the Candy Stripe Program at the Oak Ridge Hospital; and established the Awareness House to combat drug abuse among high school students. In 1965 her troop became the first racially integrated Senior High Girl Scout Troop in Tennessee.



In 1973 her Senior Troop opened the Children's Museum of Oak Ridge, later incorporated as a formal museum that is today one of the leading US children's museums. Joyce's Senior Troop traveled twice to Mexico and once to Venezuela to assist with service projects.



In 1972, her Senior Troop received the Walter Donald Ross Award "given to the most Outstanding Troop in the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts - over 6 million members - for service to their community." This is the only World Association Award to a US troop to date.



Joyce stepped down from her troop leadership position in 1976, but continued in many Girl Scout activities. She co-authored "And the Fence Came Down", a 50 year history of Girl Scouting in Oak Ridge. In 1994, she chaired the Tanasi Council's History and Archives Preservation Committee, and opened the new Daisy's Place Girl Scout Museum.

Joyce has received many citations and awards for her work with the handicapped and youth. In 1976, the Tanasi Council gave the Joyce Maienschein Award annually to the Most Outstanding Graduating Girl Scout until the nation-wide council merger in 2009. In 2014, the Board of Directors of Girl Scout Council of Southern Appalachia established the Joyce Maienschein Leadership Grant to be given to Girl Scouts for community service projects approved by the council.



In 1993, she was named as "One of the Top Ten Women of Impact in the 50 year History of Oak Ridge."



After moving to Tempe in 2009, Joyce became active with the Arizona Cactus-Pine Girl Scout Council's History Committee and guided them to organize their historical archives. She received her Girl Scout 75 year membership pin in 2018.



Joyce was preceded in death by her husband, Fred. She is survived by her daughter Dr. Jane Maienschein, a Regents and University Professor, School of Life Sciences at ASU, her son Dr. Jon Maienschein, a retired scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory; two grandchildren and two great grandchildren. Her cremains will be interred in the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery in Terre Haute, Indiana. All services will be private.



Memorial gifts can be made to the Joyce Maienschein Leadership Grant Fund, Girl Scouts of Southern Appalachia, 1567 Downtown West Boulevard, Knoxville, TN 37919, or to the Arizona Cactus-Pine Girl Scout Council History Committee, 119 East Coronado Rd., Phoenix, AZ 85004.

(Source: Arizona Republic)