Joyce McCormack Vezina Obituary - Visitation & Funeral Information

Joyce McCormack Vezina, beloved wife, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, and friend, died on Wednesday, May 15, 2019 surrounded by love. The eldest of 10 children, Joyce was born in Nashville on September 30, 1935 to Harold and Emma McCormack. Joyce’s family moved to Memphis when she was two years old to run The Kay Cookie Company, their family-owned business located on Florida Street in South Memphis. Growing up in Mallory Heights, she attended Mallory Heights Elementary School and graduated from Whitehaven High School. She graduated from Memphis State University in 1957, where she was a member of Alpha Xi Delta Sorority. After college, Joyce worked as a social worker for the City of Memphis. Joyce met her future husband, G. Robert “Bob” Vezina, in November 1956 when he was in flight training at NAS Millington. They began dating in the spring of 1959 when Joyce moved to Norfolk to work as a social worker for the Commonwealth of Virginia and Bob was stationed at NAS Oceana. When they married in Memphis on November 18, 1961, Joyce became a Navy wife and spent the next 20 years moving her family from coast-to-coast-to-coast. Through her devotion, strength of character, and unyielding faith, Joyce endured long separations from her husband while successfully managing a household, raising four children, and serving as a source of comfort and support to her sister Navy wives. There was nothing better than to be “adopted” by Joyce. Everyone in her orbit experienced her warm, loving, compassionate, and altruistic spirit. She treated every person she met with dignity and respect, and taught her children and grandchildren to do the same. “Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward them for what they have done” (Proverbs 19:17). Joyce will be rewarded indeed. Joyce believed that cleanliness was next to Godliness, which resulted in Joyce being as close to God as one could be. She was the matriarch and the queen of one of the most loving families on Earth. Joyce joins her parents; brothers, Harold, James, and John McCormack; sister Jackie McCormack Hill; sister-in-law Beverly Morton McCormack; and son-in-law Scott Patterson. She is survived by the love of her life and husband of 57 years, Bob Vezina; her children Tracy Vezina Patterson, Gus Vezina, Zeke Vezina (Meredith), and Jacob Vezina (Mandy); her grandchildren Emma, Joshua, and Samantha Patterson and George, Louise, Ruthie, and Simon Vezina, whom she loved “more than all the stars in the sky.” Also, her siblings Tony McCormack (Nancy), Joe McCormack (Cheryl), Sharon McCormack Greenwood (Rick), Randolph McCormack, and Timothy McCormack (Patty); sisters-in-law Ann Gordon McCormack and Sally Vezina Green (Don); 26 nieces and nephews; and more great nieces and nephews than one can count. A cradle Episcopalian, Joyce was baptized and confirmed at Calvary Episcopal Church, married at Church of the Holy Communion, and will be interred at St. George’s Episcopal Church in Germantown. The celebration of her life will take place on Friday, May 24 at 1:00 p.m. at St. George’s, 2425 S. Germantown Road with a reception to follow in Sturni Parish Hall. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to St. George’s Episcopal Church, the Ronald McDonald House, the Memphis Union Mission, or the charity of the donor’s choice.

Tributes

Joyce McCormack Vezina

September 30, 1935 - May 15, 2019