Candyce Sylling was appointed to Josephine Caring Community’s Board of Directors in August of 2019 and elected to the Board in April 2020 for a three-year term.  Her tenure as Chairman of the Congregational Relations Committee began in January of 2021. She believes deeply in the high quality of eldercare and childcare offered by Josephine, having witnessed first-hand the care her paternal grandmother received as a resident in the late 1980’s. Here is part of her story:

Candyce was born and raised in Mount Vernon, Washington and attended the First United Methodist Church until graduation from college. Her parents instilled in her a lifelong volunteer ethic by their example of service to church and community.

After graduating from Colorado Women’s’ College in Denver in 1973 with a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry, she married Charlie, a lifelong Lutheran and Air Force pilot.  In 1978 she earned a Bachelor of Science in Medical Technology at the University of Oregon Health Sciences Center in Portland while her husband served in South Korea. Their two children were born in Florida.

The final move for the Air Force came in 1992 to Stafford, Virginia, where Candyce and her family joined St. Peter’s Lutheran Church.  There she served on the church council, chaired an expansion project, and taught adult Sunday school.  She also studied Altar Flower design at the National Cathedral and helped found an Altar Flower group. In 2006 she was awarded a certificate of completion of the Ambassadors for Christ Theological Study by the Virginia Synod.

2006 brought a move to Monument, Colorado, and membership in Family of Christ Lutheran Church where both Charlie and Candyce joined the choir and Candyce pursued her love of Altar Flower arranging.

In 2010, Candyce and Charlie moved to Camano Island, bringing Candyce full circle from her Mount Vernon childhood.  Now members of Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church in Stanwood, they enjoy singing in the choir. Candyce served as Worship and Music coordinator for one year and arranged Altar Flowers for seven years.

Her professional life included stints in medical technology, public school education, and as a docent for several historic museums while raising two children and supporting her husband’s 24-year Air Force career, which took them to Europe, the Pacific, and all over the U.S.