Joyce Meyer, a retired teacher and past president of a Toledo anti-abortion organization, died Friday at ProMedica Ebeid Hospice Residence in Sylvania. She was 90.

She died of dementia, her daughter Beth Rogers said.

Mrs. Meyer retired in 1996 after teaching English and journalism for about 10 years at Cardinal Stritch Catholic High School. Prior to that, she taught the same subjects at Whitmer High School for about three years in the mid-1950s before taking a break from her career to raise her children.

A devout Catholic, she was an active member and past president of Heartbeat of Toledo. The nonprofit offers alternatives to abortion for women with unplanned pregnancies.

Her life was devoted to her faith, family, and service, Mrs. Rogers said.

“She always believed in the best in people and brought out the best in them,” Mrs. Rogers said. “She had such a deep faith and she was able to share it very well with people when they needed it the most.”

In retirement, Mrs. Meyer was very active in Heartbeat of Toledo, Mark Meyer, a son, said.

When interviewed by The Blade in 2005, Mrs. Meyer, at the time the organization’s former president, said that — the issue of abortion aside — she, along with other conservative women, embraced many of the same goals as feminists, including equal access to education and job opportunities.

She saw "a new feminism," in which "women feel they can choose their path in life but that they aren't put in a certain mold. So they can indeed marry, raise a family, and hold down a position if that's what they want to do."

The old feminism was more confining, Mrs. Meyer maintained, "in the sense that you can't have it all — you make your decision to have a career and everything else has to be put on the back burner."

Mrs. Meyer was born July 31, 1931 in Toledo, to Margaret and Karl Miller, a professional engineer. 

In 1949, she graduated from Notre Dame Academy.

Earlier that year, while still in high school, she met Paul Meyer, an Owens-Illinois engineer, on a blind date. She then attended college while he served in the Air Force during the Korean  War. 

About 1954, she graduated from Marygrove College in Detroit with a bachelor’s degree in education, and the next year married Mr. Meyer once he got his honorable discharge in 1955.

They settled in Toledo, where they brought up eight children together. He survives.

In her free time, Mrs. Meyer enjoyed playing tennis, traveling, and playing bridge.

She was a member of Most Blessed Sacrament Parish, where she was a past Eucharistic minister.

Mrs. Meyer was preceded in death by two sons, Tom and Jim Meyer.

Surviving are her husband of 66 years, Paul Meyer; daughter, Beth Rogers; sons, Steve, Mark, Michael, Greg, and Karl Meyer; 11 grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.

Visitation will begin at 3 p.m. Monday, at Ansberg-West Funeral Home, where the Rosary will immediately follow at 6 p.m.

On Tuesday, a viewing hour will begin at 10 a.m. at the Most Blessed Sacrament Church, where a Mass of Christian Burial will immediately follow at 11 a.m.

The family suggests tributes to the parish or Heartbeat of Toledo.

First Published February 21, 2022, 5:00 a.m.