On Christmas morning, December 25, 2015, Joyce passed away peacefully in Austin, Texas. She was visited by her children at the time of her passing.

Joyce was born in Duckhill, Mississippi, on August 30, 1927. She was the third child of Maurice and Dorothy Herring.

As a child, Joyce was seldom seen without a book in her hand. She loved domestic pursuits like helping her mother in the kitchen, learning to sew and playing the piano. She loved traveling to New Orleans with her cousin, Lockey. Reading, cooking and traveling remained lifelong pleasures for her.

After graduating from Raymond High School in 1945, she attended Hinds County Junior College for two years. In 1949, Joyce graduated from Mississippi State College for Women with a degree in mathematics.

Joyce married her husband of 56 years, Charlie, on May 5, 1951. They made their first home in Jackson, Mississippi , and began their family with a daughter and a son. In March 1957, Charlie accepted a job with Dow Chemical Co. and the family moved to Texas and settled in Lake Jackson. Two more children were added to the family, a daughter and a son.

Joyce taught math for Brazosport ISD at Freeport Intermediate School from 1968 until retirement in 1988. She was a member of Alpha Delta Kappa education service sorority.

Joyce was a long time member of the First Baptist Church of Lake Jackson. She served as a Sunday school teacher, a committee member and a church librarian for almost 50 years.

Joyce was an avid birdwatcher traveling to Alaska, Hawaii, Trinidad, Jamaica, Costa Rica, Belize, and all over the United States. Her backyard was a sanctuary for hummingbirds, song birds and nesting yellow-crowned night-herons. Joyce participated in the annual Christmas bird count for many years.

Joyce was preceded in death by her husband, Charlie W. Norman; by her parents, Maurice F. Sr. and Dorothy Locke Herring; her brothers, Maurice F. Jr. (Ernestine) and Jack Herring; and brother-in-law, Frank Berry.

Joyce is survived by her children, Nancy Timpani (Tim), Jack Norman, Dorothy Strickland (Robert), and Christopher Norman (Linda); her grandchildren, Melody Timpani (Carlos Velasco), John Timpani (Emily), Casey Strickland, David Strickland (Anna), and Sara, Lora, Micah and Joshua Norman; and her great-grandchildren, John Caleb, David, Stephen and Aria. She is also survived by her sisters, Jean Berry and Judy Foster (Richard); her sister-in-law, Sally Herring; and her first cousin, Edna Locke Buhrow.

The funeral service will be held at Lakewood Funeral Chapel in Lake Jackson, Texas , on December 30, 2015, at 2:00 p.m. Visitation at 1:30 p.m.

Gifts in lieu of flowers may be given to the First Baptist Church of Lake Jackson library fund or the Alzheimer's Association.

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