Linda Joyce, former executive director of the Kitsap YWCA, left this life the way she lived it: With courage, strength, dignity and grace.

During her 20-year tenure as executive director of the Kitsap YWCA, those who experienced domestic violence came to be known as survivors, not victims. Women became not defined by what they had endured, but as individuals who had an inherent right to live life without violence. And Joyce helped remove barriers to enable women and their children to live their lives to the fullest.

During her tenure, the YWCA renovated its ALIVE Shelter; opened two transitional housing sites — and began work on a third — where women can live with their children while they complete their education and build their careers; and expanded its services and reach — approximately 6,000 people a year stay in a safe, nurturing environment thanks to Kitsap YWCA, or receive legal advocacy services, counseling, attend children’s camp, find permanent housing, or receive training to help others.

Joyce’s compassion was undoubtedly innate, but she could connect with those she helped because of her personal experience. She was an unwed teenage mother at 16. She finished high school and married the baby’s father. But when he became abusive, she left. She graduated from college, became a social worker in Indiana and California, then transferred with her Navy husband to Bremerton.

California’s loss, our gain.

Not even ovarian cancer and chemotherapy could quiet her laughter or slow the never-out-of-style courtesy of her handwritten notes. Until the end, she took time for others. And she never stopped caring.

“The YWCA is my home,” she said at her retirement last year. “It’s never been a job. It’s a mission. It’s a place where I’ve chosen to love the people who have loved me back. So my last words to you are, ‘I love you.’ ”