BUFORD, Ky. — Joyce Marie Moore Gray, 92, of Buford, passed away on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025, at Beaver Dam Nursing and Rehabilitation. Joyce was born on July 17, 1932, in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, to the late Howard C. and Lottie Benson Moore.
When she was six years old, she moved with her family to Owensboro, Kentucky, where her father had secured a job at the Owensboro Wagon Factory. They moved into the Breckenridge Street and Hall Street neighborhood where she eventually met the love of her life, Gene Gray.
Joyce and Gene fell in love and launched a marriage that spanned 65 years, until Gene’s death in 2013. Early in their marriage, while they were establishing their home, Joyce worked at the GE plant in Owensboro. They lived on Triplett Street behind the old Owensboro Oilers baseball field before building a house on Warwick Drive in 1955. They lived there until they bought a farm in northern Ohio County, Kentucky, in 1967 to start another chapter of their lives.
Throughout their marriage Joyce and Gene were active members of their church. Over the years they had worshipped and served in Hall Street Baptist Church, Mount Carmel Baptist Church, Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church, and Sugar Grove Baptist Church. Joyce was an active member of the Women’s Missionary Union and supported local and foreign mission activities. Joyce and Gene maintained an active pastoral care ministry to local hospitals and nursing homes. She could also plant tobacco on a drag or tractor setter and hoe the crop with the best of them.
In addition to her parents and her husband, Gene, Joyce was also preceded in death by her sisters, Annie Merriel Noffsinger (Bob), of Owensboro, and Peggy Ruth Smith (Frank) of Cincinnati, Ohio, and a step-grandson, Allen Wallace.
Joyce is survived by her three children, Terry G. Gray (Susan), of Austin, Texas, Larry W. Gray (Mary Ida), of Louisville, Kentucky, and Deborah Ann McDaniel (Tim), of Buford, and a sister, Nancy D. Rayman, of Florida.
With much joy she is survived by eight grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren, and four great-great-grandchildren. Family reunions would also bring a large number of much-loved nephews and nieces.
The funeral service for Joyce Gray will be at 2 p.m. Saturday Feb. 8, at Glenn Funeral Home and Crematory, with Reverend Alice Tremaine officiating. Visitation will be the same day from 10 a.m. until time of the service at the funeral home. The burial will follow in Mt. Carmel Cemetery.
Expressions of sympathy may take the form of contributions to Beaver Dam Nursing and Rehabilitation Center Activities Fund, 1595 US 231 Beaver Dam, KY 42320 and Care Net Owensboro, 425 East 18th Street Owensboro, KY 42303.
Memories and condolences for the family of Joyce Gray may be left at www.glenncares.com.
