Unlike most retirees who relocate to the Parksville area, Norm Joyce had to bide his time before becoming eligible to join the Parksville Golden Oldies Sports Association (PGOSA).
Since then, the Canadian Naval veteran has made up for lost time.
Joyce retired from Canadian Forces service in April 2006 and moved with his wife Barb from Sooke to Errington. He joined PGOSA in 2010 — at the minimum age for PGOSA entry (55).
Joyce has represented Zone 2 in the B.C. 55+ Games (formerly the B.C. Senior Games) for the last seven years with the Thrifty Foods Orcas mixed slo-pitch team, winning four gold and three silver medals along the way.
He also currently plays PGOSA walking soccer and volleyball, and volunteers as an umpire for the Winter 69+ League slo-pitch games at Arbutus Meadows.
Joyce was born in New Westminster on
Dec. 31, 1955 and raised in Newton Surrey. After graduating in June of 1974, Norm went on to join the Canadian Armed Forces in December of 1975.
Joyce did his basic training in Cornwallis, N.S., until the spring of 1976 and returned to the west coast to take his Seamanship and Trades training as a Radio Operator at CFB Esquimalt that summer.
He was posted to his first ship — the HMCS Provider — in early 1977 and served two years on board before being posted to CFS Aldergrove for two years.
Norm left the Navy in 1980 and married his wife, Barb. He worked at a mill and as a longshoreman in New Westminster, where the couple had their first son in 1981. They then moved to Hope, where they had their second son.
Norm re-enlisted with the Navy in 1984 and trained as a radio technician in Halifax N.S. He continued with his naval career for the next 22 years, sailing on various ships and taking further trades training in Halifax, Montreal and Esquimalt.
A third son was born in Victoria in 1985, and the family moved to Sooke in 1994 and remained until Norm’s retirement.
The PGOSA Profile is part of a series highlighting members of the Parksville Golden Oldies Sports Association, a local association for athletes aged 55 and over. For details on the numerous sports activities sponsored by PGOSA, visit www.pgosa.org.
— Submitted by Rob Jonas