The Reverend Joy Ogburn Phipps passed away peacefully on March 23, 2021 at St. Martin’s in the Pines Retirement Community. Joy was born March 20, 1932 in Birmingham and grew up in Bessemer, Alabama. She graduated from Bessemer High School and attended Southern Methodist University. In 1952, she married Donald Miller Phipps of Bessemer. His work led them to live in Chattanooga and Columbia, Tennessee, eventually settling in Middletown, New Jersey. She graduated and received her degrees in Social Work from Rutgers University in 1975. Returning to Alabama, she became a communicant of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church. Following Don’s death, she was a Social Worker at East Side Mental Health. In 1985, she answered a call to the ministry and attended Virginia Theological Seminary graduating in 1988. She returned to the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama and was ordained to the ministry. She served as Curate and Assistant Rector at the Church of the Nativity in Huntsville, Alabama. In 1990 she was called by John Claypool to St. Luke’s Mountain Brook as Associate Rector, becoming the first female Episcopal priest to serve in Birmingham. She retired from St. Luke’s in 2000. Joy was well loved and remembered fondly by all who knew her in the Diocese of Alabama. “May she gaze upon you, Lord, face to face, and taste the blessedness of perfect rest.” BCP
She was predeceased by her father, Frank Ogburn; mother, Lottie Frances Mays Head; her husband, Donald Phipps; her brother-in-law, Stan Montgomery and her cousin, Martha Moore Sykes. She is survived by her daughters Jane Phipps Hoagland (Mark Phillips) and Beth P. Hofmann; her grandson Donald Phipps Hoagland of Birmingham; her brothers, Bill Ogburn (Kay) and Mac Ogburn of Columbia, South Carolina; her sister, Ann Montgomery of Montgomery, Alabama; and numerous nieces and nephews.
Due to the Covid pandemic, a private funeral service and interment of her ashes will be held at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church on Friday, March 26, 2021 at 11:00 a.m.. The service will be live streamed at https://saint-lukes.com/live-stream/. In lieu of flowers memorials may be made to St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 3736 Montrose Rd, Mountain Brook, AL 35213 or The Episcopal Diocese of Alabama, 521 20th St. N, Birmingham, AL 35203.
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