Joyce Novelo-Clark was born on July 5, 1957, in Eureka. She passed away peacefully in her home in Eureka on August 4, 2025, after a long battle with cancer. Despite treatments and overcoming cancer, it returned in different areas of her body.

Joyce graduated from Eureka High School in 1973. In 1987, she moved to Veracruz, Mexico, where she made many lifelong friends whom she called family. Around 2009, she returned to Eureka to be close to her family again. In 2011, she traveled to Tennessee for approximately two years, spending time with and getting to know more of her family, before returning to her hometown of Eureka to stay.

Joyce was always the person you could go to for advice on anything. She somehow always knew how to word things perfectly to guide you and help you look at situations from every angle, often adding her quick wit and humor. Joyce never judged and loved with all her heart. She always found the good in bad situations.

Joyce was preceded in death by her grandparents, Jim and Eva Markin; her mother, Barbara Clark; her father, Bill Clark; and her nephew, Steven.

She is survived by her two sons, Michael and Donald Pettitt; her brother, Willie Clark; her sisters, Debbie (Don) Smith and Terri (Orval) Crowl; nieces Deanna (Brian) Hopkins and Amber Dominguez; nephews John (Daphne) Taylor, Wayne Bukowski, David (Lorissa) Dias, Billy Clark, Christopher Clark, and Clayton Clark; along with many cousins and great-nieces and great-nephews.

A celebration of life will be held at Trinidad Town Hall on August 23, 2025, at 1 p.m.

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