Joyce Matilda Fulling
June 3, 1958 ~ August 14, 1999
Resided in:
Asheville, NC
Asheville Butterfly TrailBorn in Asheville in 1958, she graduated from Asheville High School, had a degree in Horticulture from Blue Ridge Community College and a degree in Business from AB Technical College. She worked for Lowe’s in Hendersonville in the Garden Shop, ran the greenhouse at Sunnyhill Nursery and also worked in the Buncombe County Tax Office. She was also a former employee of Nationwide Insurance, Autrey Smathers Insurance Agency and Insurance Service of Asheville.
She was a past Matron of Biltmore Chapter #38, Order of the Eastern Star, a member of the Sew and Sew Club and the Daughters of the American Revolution. She was a member of First Baptist Church all of her life.
Joyce always had the sweetest smile for everyone and always showed much love and compassion for all she knew. She never hesitated to help anyone as best she could.
In addition to her mother, she leaves two sisters, Blanche Dempsey and her husband Jesse of Kernersville, NC, Virginia Giesenschlag and her husband Carl of Asheville; two brothers, David E. Fulling of Black Mountain, Roger W. Fulling of Warner Robins, GA; nieces and nephews, Leila, Billy, Kevin and Eric Giesenschlag and Nikol, Tara and Benjamin Dempsey and two aunts, Joyce Garrick of Harvard, Mass and Barbara McKenzie of Tewksbury, Mass.
Services will be held at 1 pm Tuesday in First Baptist Church conducted by the Revs. Gail Coulter, Jane Curran and Rob Blackburn. Interment will be in Riverside Cemetery. Pallbearers will be Jesse Dempsey, Carl Giesenschlag, Billy, Kevin and Eric Giesenschlag and Benjamin Dempsey.
The family will receive friends from 7 until 8:30 pm Monday at Groce Funeral Home at Lake Julian where Joyce will remain until being placed in the church 30 minutes prior to the service.
Memorials may be made to Mountain Area Hospice, P.O. Box 16, Asheville, NC 28802 or to First Baptist Church, 5 Oak Street, Asheville, NC 28801.
It was my honor and privilege to know Joyce, however brief a time, and to participate in her care. She was such a special lady. God blessed her and us with her beautiful eyes and smile. That smile rarely wavered, even until her last day. I will always be thankful that she did not linger or suffer. God heard our prayers for that and to Him goes all the glory. Joyce and I talked about her dying. She expressed to me that she was scared and did not want to leave us. It’s hard to die when you’ve never done it before. We talked about how God loved her and would walk with her all the way. I told Joyce that I was so glad that, because she had asked Jesus into her life and would be with Him, that we will always know where to look for her. We have not lost her for we know where she is, Whom she is with and will one day be with her. We will miss her very much, but we’ll see her again. Praise God!
My Love and Prayers Are With You,
Gretchen
My thoughts and prayers are with your family.