Joyce Keim passed away on Tuesday, March 19, 2019 at The Haven in Baton Rouge, at the age of 85. She was a native of New Orleans and long-time resident of Chalmette, LA. Joyce truly embodied the entrepreneurial spirit. Over the years, she sold home products and cosmetics. Later, she turned a large room in her home into a wedding venue, and enlisted her family to become caterers and bartenders. But, in 1972, she found the love of her entrepreneurial life: the wholesale seafood business. Joyce’s Seafood provided shrimp, crawfish, fish and crab to many of the finest restaurants in New Orleans, like T. Pittari’s, Pascal Manale, the Royal Sonesta, Masson’s, The Versailles, Tony Angelo’s, Impastato’s, and of course, Rocky and Carlo’s. Joyce also befriended many of the top chefs of the time, including Gerard Crozier, Augie Lopez, Gunter Preuss, Robert Finley, Bozo Vodacovich, and Willie Coln. She will be greatly missed by her family, and all of those whom she touched. The visitation for Joyce and her sister, Jean Shannon Augustin Dudenhefer, who also passed away during the same week, was held on Saturday, March 23, 2019 at Lake Lawn Metairie Funeral Home, 5100 Pontchartrain Blvd., New Orleans. Interment took place immediately afterward at St. Bernard Memorial Gardens, 701 W. Virtue Street, Chalmette, LA. Joyce is survived by her two sons, Elwood “Woody” H. Keim Jr. and his wife Kimberley, of Prairieville, and Barry D. Keim and his wife Ellen, of Baton Rouge; four grandchildren, Caroline Keim Alexander, Christoph B. Keim, Anderson T. Keim and Nathan D. Keim; her sister, Gloria Shannon Juneau; and many beloved nieces and nephews. Joyce was preceded in death by her husband, Elwood H. Keim Sr.; parents, Eugene Shannon and Mildred Fazende Shannon; her brothers, Stanley Shannon and Eugene Shannon and her sister, Jean Shannon Augustin Dudenhefer. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to St. Lillian Academy for Special Needs Children in Baton Rouge or your local food bank. Please share memories at www.wilbertservices.com.
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