Skip to main content

Joy Lyons Leaves Her Mark

Joy Lyons, 56, a wife and the mother of three daughters passed after a long battle with cancer last week. Former Park City Mayor Gary Madison described Lyons to Glasgow Daily Times: “She was always willing to help with any project ..." Over the years in service “she helped look for lost visitors ... [and] treat injured visitors” said Brad McDougal, who started working at Mammoth Cave at about the same time as Lyons.

Lyons began her career at Mammoth Cave in 1979 as a seasonal park aid. In 2004 she was promoted to chief of program services for the park’s division of interpretation and held the position retiring in 2013.

“She did a lot for Mammoth Cave National Park, particularly the cave (and) the African-American history,” Bob Ward said. In a previous Daily Times’ article, Lyons said: “Mammoth Cave has an extensive black history and we’re not even identified ... [that way]. That was one of my objectives: to get the story of Mammoth Cave’s slave history out to the public, but also to make it a little bit better known within the National Park Service as well.’” Her book “Making Their Mark: The Signature of Slavery At Mammoth Cave,” earned Lyons an Award of Merit from the Kentucky Historical Society in 2007.

Aside from her work at Mammoth Cave, Joy Lyons was also involved helping develop the Bell’s Tavern Historical Park for the city of Park City. "She’s sure been a true friend. She will be missed” said Former Park City Mayor Gary Madison.

SOURCES

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

QUOTE: Marie M. Daly

"Courage is like — it’s a habitus, a habit, a virtue: you get it by courageous acts. It’s like you learn to swim by swimming. You learn courage by couraging." Marie M. Daly (1921–2003), Biochemist & the first African American woman in the US to earn a Ph.D. in chemistry. #ScienceWomen #WLeadership #ewls

800 Facebook Likes!

Yippee! EWLS fans are awesome! Thank you all so much for sharing and liking our FB page. Since last February when we announced 700 likes, we have gained a blog and our annual event is ramping up for some major festivities. Please check out our Extraordinary Women Cavers (EWC's) who will be featured in this year's publication and sign up so that you can get in on these limited caving trips to gated and protected caves in the Magic Valley area of Idaho! Have a great day everyone and thank you for supporting women cavers! LINKS Webpage: www.ewls.org EWC's: www.ewls.org/past-editions.html Annual Event: www.ewls.org/all-grrs-cave-trip.html Annual Event FB page: www.facebook.com/events/127091664128055

Jessica Deli

Jessica Deli has been Central Region Coordinator for the NCRC since 2012 but before then she had already made her mark as a rescue specialist and cave conservationist all over the US. Deli has been involved with the National Cave Rescue Commission since 2005. With a simple Google search you will find her name everywhere participating in cave rescue training efforts. She appeared in the New York Grotto 2008 report for the Cave rescue Seminar and 2013 Orientation to Cave Rescue. In 2006 Kansas City Grotto mentioned her in the Orientation to Cave Rescue at Indiana University. Central Indiana Grotto enjoyed her demos in 2012 at the club's Vertical training. At the 2011 NSS Convention she presented "Atmospheric Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide Levels in Caves: What is Normal? Preliminary Results" with Anmar Mirza. And in 2005 she was involved in the Buckner's Cave clean-up project at Indiana University Bloomington. Deli's credentials in civilian life are impressive too! T