BLYTHEWOOD – Joyce Cedella Herman, 75, of Galax, Virginia passed away Friday, March 8, 2019 at home with her family in Blythewood, South Carolina. She was born August 4, 1943 to the late Seaton Ray and Irma Lee Spencer. Joyce spent her formative years moving around the South with her mother and father, but her home was always at her Grandma and Grandpa Green’s house in Baywood, Virginia. When she graduated high school and attended nursing school, she met and married Paul L. Herman II. They moved to Toledo, Ohio where she raised her two children and remained a resident for over twenty years. She spent the next eleven years of her life as a resident of Galax, Virginia.
Joyce lived a contented life in service to her children, grandchildren, others, and above all – to God. Joyce was a nurse for nearly 30 years, and worked in a variety of facilities including hospital nurseries, pediatrician offices, senior living, and homes for the developmentally disabled. She also fulfilled a lifetime dream of owning and operating a daycare, Joyce’s Tiny Tots in downtown Galax. Joyce sold the daycare to move in with her daughter and son-in-law as they pursued busy Army careers, and to help them raise their young children. Joyce moved with the family from Missouri to Kentucky and finally in 2006 to Blythewood, South Carolina where she was a resident for the remainder of her life. Throughout her seven and a half year battle with metastatic breast cancer, she continued to search for a way to give selflessly to others and did so by developing a card ministry at the cancer center where she received treatments.
In addition to her parents, she is also preceded in death by brother, William Ray Spencer, and sisters Alice and Ellen Klein. Survivors include, daughter Desdemona Franklin (Bryan) of Blythewood, South Carolina and son Charles Herman (Brooke) of Savannah, Georgia; and grandchildren, Brittany Sagardia (Jesús), Ryan, Elise, Kaylyn, Jordan, Sammy, Gabi, and Bryson.
The family received friends Monday, March 11, 2019 from 10am until 11am at High Country Services. Following the reception and follow-on funeral procession, Pastor Christopher Green officiated a graveside funeral service at the Crab Creek Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery, in Ennice, North Carolina. Memorials may be made in Joyce’s honor by sending donations to Dusty Franklin at 206 Maple Ridge Rd Blythewood, SC 29016 to continue Joyce’s card ministry to cancer patients.
