Mary Joyce is renowned for traveling solo from Southeast Alaska to Fairbanks by dog team. Mary Joyce was born to an Irish Catholic family in Baraboo, Wisconsin. She attended Nursing School in Chicago, Illinois and upon graduating, moved to Hollywood, California to pursue her career. In 1928, she was hired by Mrs. Erie L. Smith as a private nurse to care for her son, Leigh Hackley Smith (a.k.a. "Hack"), a World War One veteran suffering from war-related health issues. Mrs. Smith was the foster daughter of the prominent philanthropist Charles Henry Hackley of Muskegon, Michigan.

The Smiths' and Ms. Joyce arrived at the Twin Glacier Camp in 1930 on the Smiths’ private yacht, the Stella Maris. Dr. Harry C. DeVighne, a physician for the Alaska-Juneau Gold Mine, built the hunting and fishing camp alongside the Taku River in the vicinity of Juneau, Alaska in 1923.

Following that visit, Mrs. Smith purchased the land. She handed the encampment over to Hack to tend with assistance from Mary. In return they quickly added more buildings and renamed it as the Twin Glacier Lodge. Mrs. Smith returned every spring with supplies on the Stella Maris. Hack and Mary raised Huskies for dog sledding at the lodge while entertaining guests as a diversion from Hack's health issues. Hack ultimately succumbed to declining health in 1934 at the age of 37.

Following Mr. Smith’s death, Mary was given the deed to the lodge by Mrs. Smith, who continued to visit every year for as long as health permitted. She turned the lodge into a resort lodge during her ownership; it continues to function as one of Juneau’s earliest man-made attractions to present day.

In December of 1935, Mary set out on a solo dog sledding trek, as a representative for the City and Borough of Juneau, to the Fairbanks Winter Carnival. She later claimed to have walked the majority of the mush. The rate of her progress slowed when she became ill en route, causing the public to fear for her safety and speculate on her whereabouts. She flew to the Winter Carnival after realizing she would not complete the trek in time, but returned to her sled and completed the mush after the event. The route Mary traversed followed the path of what eventually became the Alaskan Highway. For this effort she was awarded a Silver Cup from the city, a 2-month-old husky pup from friend Don Abel, Sr., and a rare “Honorary Member” title from the Pioneers of Alaska. Her story attracted national media attention.

Ms. Joyce also invested and co-starred in a film that was shot on location in the Taku River region. The film, “Orphans of the North” (1940), was directed by Norman Dawn. A copy is available in The Alaska State Historical Collection. Her voice was dubbed over by another actress after filming. Another later film, “The Flying Saucer” (1950) stars characters believed to be loosely inspired by Mary and Hack Smith. In 1936 Mary rescued Father Bernard R. Hubbard, the “Glacier Priest,” after his boat capsized in the Taku River while fishing, stranding him on a rock in stream.

In the late 1930s and early ‘40s Mary became a Flight Stewardess on Pan-Alaska Airlines, a subsidiary of Pan-American Airlines. She served on Alaska to Seattle routes. Only certified nurses could be stewardesses at that time. In the winter of 1939 Mary conducted sled-dog tours of the Sun Valley Resort in Idaho.

During the Second World War, she moved into the City of Juneau, after warnings of Japanese Invasion. She worked as a Nurse at St. Ann’s Hospital until end of war. After 14 years and at the conclusion of the war, Mary sold the Lodge and purchased the Top Hat Bar in Juneau. Later she purchased the Lucky Lady on S. Franklin St and lived in an apartment above it. Ms. Joyce ran for the office of Alaskan Territorial Representative in 1950 as a Democratic Party candidate.

Mary Joyce is an important and well-loved Alaskan figure who was regularly invited to speeches and ceremonies both in Alaska and in the contiguous United States. With the exception of a short stay in Wisconsin during the 1940s, she lived in Juneau the remainder of her life. In 1976 she suffered two heart attacks, the second of which took her life. She is buried at the Evergreen Cemetery in Juneau.