Joyce Ann Spurlin

Joyce Ann Honeycutt Spurlin, age seventy-six years, of Forest City, North Carolina passed away on Wednesday, May 18th at Hospice of the Carolina Foothills.

Joyce was born on June 19, 1945, in Cliffside, North Carolina.  She was the daughter of the late James Pink Honeycutt and Ocie Lee Thrift Honeycutt.  Joyce was preceded in death by her sister, Betty Honeycutt Toney.

Joyce was a member of Florence Baptist Church for fifty-one years. She enjoyed serving on Mission trips to Washington DC and to Vermont.  She was a member of the Sunshine Sunday School Class and a Bible Journaling Group, both of which became a huge source of encouragement in her later years.

A Graduate of Chase High School and Appalachian State University, Joyce earned a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education.  She worked for Rutherford County Schools and spent most of her thirty-one years teaching as a First Grade Teacher at Harris Elementary School.  Over the span of three decades, she is credited for teaching one third of the students at Harris how to read and write. Former colleagues, parents, and students remember Mrs. Spurlin for her love of mixing music and drama with learning.  Mrs. Spurlin was known for playing the ukulele and the autoharp while singing with her students, dressing up as book characters to make special appearances in class, and for animated story times which involved a rocking chair, a rug, and kids gathered at her feet.

Retirement brought time for many hobbies for Joyce, one of which was traveling across the country and visiting forty-nine states in the RV with Calvin. A seven week trip out west was her most memorable with Durango, Colorado being her favorite spot. Her love for family and history led her to become an expert in ancestry, where she spent countless hours researching the family tree and tracing roots all the way back to England. Joyce also enjoyed scrapbooking, celebrating mountain heritage and culture, laughing with her many best friends and spending time with her grandchildren, which she coined, “The sunshine’s of my life.”

In December of 2014, Joyce finished her autobiography titled “But It’s Howdy Doody Time,” a book of memories from an adventurous and mischievous little girl who was a self-proclaimed member of the Peanut Gallery on the Howdy Doody television show. She describes living in a small cotton mill village where family, friends, community and church were the cornerstones of life.  Joyce often spoke about the nostalgia of Cliffside and credits this magical place as being the core of her compass. No matter where life would take her, that compass always pointed her back to her birth house on River Street, right down the road from the old town clock and not too far from where she met her neighbor and future husband, Calvin, and a group of life-long “sister friends.” Being the family historian that she was, Joyce recorded this mostly funny collection of family memories for her grandchildren so they could better understand “how life was for their Gram.” She was also sure to include her favorite memories with each grandchild.

In June of 2020, Joyce and Calvin celebrated their Fiftieth Wedding Anniversary with a renewing of vows at the old Cliffside Town Clock.  Family and friends gathered for a ceremony to celebrate at the sacred place where it all began.

Survivors include her husband of fifty-one years, Calvin Yates Spurlin, children, Matthew Calvin Spurlin (Anna) of Wesley Chapel, Joshua Weldon Spurlin of Mebane, and Holly Spurlin Fisher (David) of Weddington. Grandchildren are Emory Grace Fisher, Ellison Kate Fisher, Juliana Ford Spurlin and Hunter Yates Spurlin. 

The funeral service will be held at 12 Noon on Monday, May 23, 2022, in the Florence Baptist Church with the Reverend Tonya Garrison officiating.  Interment will follow in the Rutherford County Memorial Cemetery.  The family will receive friends 10:30 until 11:45 in the Narthex prior to the service.

Memorial contributions in her memory may be made to Florence Baptist Church, 201 South Broadway Street, Forest City, North Carolina 28043. 

The Padgett and King Mortuary & Crematory is in charge of arrangements and an online guest registry is available at www.padgettking.com

To send flowers to the family, please visit our floral store.