Mrs. Joyce A Blevins

Joyce was born in Welch, West Virginia on August 2nd, 1934. She entertained us with many stories of growing up in the coal camps there. She loved the fact that she grew up with three older brothers and often let us know how she was just as tough as “ those boys”.

In her early childhood she developed osteomyelitis that resulted in her having to leave her family and live at the Morris Memorial Hospital in Milton for almost five years. Joyce spoke of loving the beautiful orchard that grew on the property and the many friends she made there. This is just one example of the strength that resided within Joyce.

Joyce married into the Army life. Italy was one of her favorite places they were stationed and also where she had her first child. She enjoyed traveling where the Army sent them and said that she felt Army bases were a wonderful place to raise her three children.

Once her children were grown she focused on working in the restaurant world. One of those restaurants was well known in the Beckley area as the Sportsman’s Grill located near the old Murphy’s Store. She later opened a small diner named Dusty’s in the Beckley area. She was a hard worker and took pride in working circles around everyone. There was never a day that she wasn’t thinking like an entrepreneur and what new business she might want to get into.

Joyce was a mix of all the places she had lived and all the people she loved. She never met a stranger and once she accepted you as family you would always be that to her, family. She lived life fueled on the coffee that was always beside her and love for family. Do not mistake Joyce as that little old grandma baking you cookies and spoiling you rotten, no not this grandma. She was honest, direct and a bit old fashioned. If you crossed her wrong she would lift her crutch and let you know she was not to messed with. She would make you the best macaroni salad anyone has ever made no matter what dish she served to you in . She would sit outside with you in the sunlight and show you how to plant the perfect garden. She would stay out after dark and teach you how to catch fireflies. Most of all, she would love you. She would love you with the same fire and passion that always brewed in her soul. She would scold you, laugh with you , hug you, insist on how her way is the best way but she would never, never give up on you. Joyce made it clear that being a family was everything and you stick together. Her smile was always bigger and brighter when she was surrounded by family.

Joyce spent the last years of her retirement in Crawley WV after her husband , Harold Blevins preceded her in death. She had then spent the last four years of her life at the Stonerise nursing home. Upon her passing she is now reunited with her husband Harold “Shorty” as well as her mother Hattie Denny, her son Mark Vose, and her three brothers Fred, Jack and Bill Burnette and her grandson, Travis Vose.

She is survived by her daughter, Penny Bivens ( husband Henry) of Crawley, WV and her son, Glenn Vose ( wife Darla ) of Springfield, Ohio.

Daughter-in-law, Rhonda Vose and nephew Stephen Burnett. Grandchildren are Daniele Ellis (fiancé Deen) , Tony Osborne( wife Ginny ), Clinton Kyle, Jenny Hayhurst ( husband Donnie ), Amy Clausen ( husband David ), Laura Hedges ( husband Andrew), Brandon Vose ( wife Sarah), Heather Vose, Dustin Vose ( wife Paige ) and Josh Stolz.

Great grandchildren are Ryan, Rylee, Austin, Hailey, Morgan,Gracelynn, Laila, Gideon, Shiloh, Theodore,Harlow, Jovie, Jax, Jagger and Asher.

Service will be March 5th, 2022 at Blue Ridge Funeral Home in Beckley, WV. Family viewing will be 1:00 -1:30 . Service will begin at 2 and all are welcome to attend.

In lieu of flowers please send donations to Hospice of Lewisburg or bibles can be donated in her memory with Gideon International.

Our family would like to express our gratitude to the staff at Stonerise Rainelle who helped care for Joyce the past 4 years and to the Hospice House of Lewisburg for the loving care they provided in her final days.