Rev. Raphael Allison Joyce

Rev. Raphael Allison Joyce (who preferred to be called Allison) died on October 25, 2014, at Scott and White Hospital. He will be buried in Bartlett City Cemetery on Wednesday, October 29. Memorial services will be held at Scanio-Harper Funeral Home, 3110 Airport Road, Temple, TX 76504 on Friday, October 31, at 2 PM. with Ed Peeler and Richard Crowe, the elders of the congregation, officiating. He was born dead on March 19th, 1932. His recovery from this condition was a matter of no small comment among his family. The delivering physician had declared him dead, walking out of the room, and had it not been for the persistence of a young resident and nurse, who obviously cared more than the delivering physician, he would not have managed his recovery. As a result of that, he has always viewed and presented his life as every day being borrowed time from God. This was the first of many miraculous deliverances from death over the course of his life. In 1957 he was diagnosed with a tumor in or on his adrenal gland or kidney the size of a turkey egg, found by x-ray. After the elders of his church prayed for him the night before, the surgeon could find no tumor. He survived being struck in auto accidents 13 times, usually at stop signs or stop lights. After his first heart attack, in 2004, the doctors told him the damage was irreparable due to enlargement of his heart and damage to the tissue. When the surgeon who operated opened his chest, he found that Allison's heart was normal size and healthy tissue despite what the tests had shown. The surgeon at the time commented that perhaps Allison's ministry was not yet over. Whenever a doctor gave him a negative prognosis, his response was always to tell them that he was already a dead man in Christ. He learned to overcome dysgraphia by memorizing lectures in both high school and college. He graduated with a B.A. (acquiring his teaching certificate at the same time) from Southwest Texas State Teachers College in 1957. He was drafted and served two years in the army, interrupting his college career, from 1954 to 1956, serving in Germany and helping his unit win awards in the war games. He graduated with a Master of Divinity degree from Brite Divinity School at TCU in 1963 with a focus on pastoral care and counseling and was an ordained minister of the Christian Church, Disciples of Christ. He served as a minister of First Christian Church of Rockdale, Texas for six and a half years and Scott Boulevard Christian Church of Temple, Texas before becoming Regional Alcohol Services Developer for Central Texas Council on Alcoholism, teaching corporations how to offer treatment for their employees. It was his progressive thinkingthat of encouraging companies to keep their employees working while they sought treatmentthat eventually was incorporated across the state. He became Director of Community Supervision and Corrections (Adult Probation) for Bell and Lampasas counties from 1978-1997. During that time, he championed substance abuse treatment throughout the area and by the time of his retirement he had played a role in the development of every treatment facility and program in the two county region, including Christian Farms/Treehouse. He was a vigorous proponent of research-based strategies for supervision as well as the concept of a criminal's ability to change, given proper motivation. These concepts were innovative, even controversial, at the time, and it helped Bell County Adult Probation be one of the outstanding departments in the state at the time. After he retired, the Texas Probation Association named their yearly prayer breakfast after him, creating the Allison Joyce Memorial Prayer Breakfast. He did not stop his ministerial role over these years. He taught bible classes in high school for two years and helped found the local chapter of the Full Gospel Businessmen's Association. He started a street ministry in downtown Temple called The Library and some of the youth who attended that serve as missionaries and teachers to this day, for which he received a Man of the Year award. He, along with his wife, Lola, ministered at Mountain View Maximum Security Women's Prison unit in Gatesville, Texas, from 1976-2010. In the latter stages of this time they taught an innovative character development program using cognitive principles designed to help women move away from criminality and towards more constructive thinking strategies, to rebuild their life in the Lord. He and Lola counseled and provided books for the needy through their ministry, Rejoice Ministries, for over 40 years. During that time, they provided marital counseling as well as substance abuse and basic spiritual need counseling without charge. Allison was always proud of the couples he was able to help become strong and lasting marriages over those decades. He performed hundreds of marriages and logged over 1200 hours of counseling/teaching per year over the course of his career. He became pastor of Christian Community Church in Buckholts, Texas, from 1979 to the present and, over the years worked hard to teach the concept of a ministering body of believers, rather than focusing on the single individual of the preacher. The number of courses, seminars, and programs he taught and/or coordinated covering substance abuse, modern probation supervision, Godly living, solid marriage principles, and cognitive strategies are too many to list in this article. A major joy in his life (aside from his wife of 54+ years) was faceting gemstones, which started as a hobby and transitioned to a job for him as he retired from probation. After decades of practice, his attention to detail helped him become a master faceter and ran Jewels and Gemstones, a custom jewelry business focusing on bespoke jewelry for 30 years. He always said that a lovely woman should have beautiful jewels and using his skill to accomplish that gave him genuine pleasure. He enjoyed teaching this skill as well and taught numerous people in the area. He enjoyed being a member of Tri-Cities Gem and Mineral Society and demonstrated gem cutting for many years at their shows. He is survived by his loving wife, Lola Bostic Joyce, whom he courted for four years before marrying, as well as his daughter, Kathleen and Henry Quinal, his sons David and Shawn Joyce, his granddaughter, Priscilla and Noel Santana, his grandsons Jon and Daniel Quinal, and his great-grandsons, Malachi, Micah, and Levi Santana. He is also survived by his sister, Mary Frances Nelson and three nephews. He was preceded in death by his father Raphael Joyce and his mother, Vera Allison Joyce. He was a keen observer of the human condition, had a sideways sense of humor that frequently startled people with a new perspective, and will be sorely missed. Col 3:3-4 says, "For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life is revealed, then you will also be revealed with Him in glory." His ministry is now in the hands of others and his borrowed days are fulfilled. To God be the glory and honor for every worthwhile word or deed he did! In lieu of flowers, if you would like to make a donation in his name, please do so to Christian Community Church, Box 8, Buckholts, TX 76518.