Mrs. Joyce Mackay Stanley

KERNERSVILLE-- On July 6, 2013, our precious Mum, Joyce Katherine Stanley, slipped from her earthly home to her heavenly home, forever to be with her Lord and Saviour. Mum was preceded in death by her husband of 56 years, Murray E. Stanley. Mum is survived by four children, Lynda Allaby and her husband, Roland, of New Brunswick, Canada, Dale Stanley of Kernersville, Danny Stanley and his wife, Beth, of Eau Claire Wisconsin, and Miriam Redmon of Kernersville. Mum has 15 grandchildren and 17 great grandchildren. Lynda and Roland have three children. Darren Allaby, Pamela Bovierd and her husband Tim, Dennis Allaby and his wife Michelle. Pamela and Tim Bovierd have two children, Tyler and Spencer. Dennis and Michelle have three children, Brady, Maddox, and Connor. Danny and Beth have 10 children. Alathea and her husband Jared Hanson have three children, Ella, Dana, and Micah. Joshua , Julia and her husband Matt Larson have three children, Patience, Grace and Hope. Makaria, Isaac, Benaiah, Naomi, Jessie, Faith, and David. Miriam has two children. Benjamin and his wife Katie, have four children, Benjamin, Mikaela, Addison, and Charlie. Katherine and her husband Brian Trotter, have two children, Brian and Emma Rose. Mum is also survived by one brother, Johnny MacKay of Nova Scotia, Canada. Mum was preceded in death by one brother, George MacKay, and two sisters, Dorothy Bartlett and Flo Marshall. Joyce Katherine Stanley was born April 17, 1925 in Trenton, Nova Scotia, Canada, to George and Myra MacKay. She died July 6, 2013 in her home in Kernersville, NC, with two of her children and one grandchild by her bedside. She grew up living in a house that had her bedroom overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, which was one of her great delights as a child. For Mum, childhood was like a dream, picking clams from the ocean and watching her Dad walk down the hill to the Trenton steel mill, whistling as he went. Her recollections of her Dad described him as a gentle man with an optimism and work ethic she never forgot. Her Mum was a get it done woman, and took no sass, but Mum's favorite memory of her Mum was the smell of the homemade bread her mother made. As a young woman, Mum worked in the war plant making bullets for the WWII effort. Shortly before her Mum died (at the age of forty five), she attended a Salvation Army meeting. Upon returning home, Grandma MacKay told Mum that Jesus was the answer and Jesus only and that she should get down on her knees every night and thank Him for what He did for her. Mum never forgot that. As the war was ending, Mum met Dad, a sailor in the Canadian Navy during WWII. They fell in love almost instantly, and six weeks later when Dad went out to sea for ten months, promises were made and fulfilled upon his return. They were married April 27, 1946 in Ontario, Canada. This union resulted in four children and fifteen grandchildren and sixteen great grandchildren as well as fifty six years of faithful and happy marriage. Soon after being married, Dad and Mum moved to Springfield, Mass., where Dad learned the auto body trade. Returning to Dad's hometown, Hampton, New Brunswick, Canada, they settled down to raise their family. Then in 1951 their lives and our home was changed forever. Dad heard his half brother preach about the Lord Jesus Christ at Main Street Baptist in St. John, New Brunswick. Soon after that, Dad believed on Christ to save him from his sins. He came home one day and gave Mum a tract entitled What Must I Do to Be Saved. Mum was taken back at first, as she had always been a moral girl. Dad was allowed to kiss her on her cheek before they were married. But in time, as she read the tract, John 3:16 became real to her. ""For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,, that whosoever believeth on Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life"". In the quiet of the day, she knelt by her bed, confessed to her God that she was indeed a sinner, deserving the punishment of God for her sins, and placed her faith in what Christ did on the cross to save her from her sins. The result of Dad and Mum believing the Gospel was traumatic in their lives and our home. Mum began teaching an after school Bible Class, teaching boys and girls in the neighborhood about the Bible and their need for Christ. Mum said she and Dad would now stay up past midnight (something not done in those days) to read and talk about the Bible and the Lord. We now became part of Hampton Baptist Church, a church that found Dad and Mum heavily involved in the work of the Lord. In 1961, Dad and Mum moved to Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Dad wanted to attend Piedmont Bible College in order to learn more about his Lord. Mum was by his side, and even took Greek so she and Dad could study together, to help him pass it! To this day we remember some of the Greek words which she used on us, like doulos, which meant slave, to remind us to not get too uppity as children! At the age of fifty five, Mum graduated from High Point University, with a degree in teaching. She spent the next fifteen years teaching children at Woodlawn Baptist and Bethesda Christian Academy, a school for children afflicted and limited in life. After retiring in her seventies, she and Dad spent their remaining years traveling, which included spending several months each summer back in Canada on the Belleisle Bay, a setting Mum never got over and she spoke often of the beautiful Belleisle Bay. Mum had a goal to see all 50 states, and she did! Dad drove her thousands of miles, all the way to Alaska even, to make that desire come true. We, as children in particular, will never forget the wonderful mother we had because of the grace of God. Mum did not just fulfill her motherly duties, she was a godly mother who feared God and demanded a pure and holy life in His sight. She labored to see each of her children come to Christ. She even left Bible verses on material that was wrong, and prayed for us without reserve until God's grace worked in our hearts. Our heritage from our Father and Mother is eternal and everlasting. We have God to thank for allowing us to have the parents we did. We will never get over this goodness of God to us, to our children, to their grandchildren, and their great grandchildren. We were so blessed!! When the first part of II Cor. 5:8 ""To be absent from the body"" was quoted to Mum, she always peacefully finished the verse ""is to be present with the Lord"". We do not say good bye to Mum. We rather say good night Mum, for we shall see you in the morning of that great and wonderful day when the dead in Christ shall rise and we which are remaining shall be caught up with you to meet Him in the air. As you said, Mum, ""We will meet again in heaven""! And if we should die before the Lord comes, we will see you then! O what a reunion that will be!! Services will be held at 11;00 a.m. Wednesday, July 10 at New Journey Fellowship Baptist Church in Kernersville, ending with a graveside service at the church cemetery. Pastor Charlie Snider will be officiating. Family will receive friends at New Journey Fellowship one hour prior to the funeral. Memorials may be made through the Gideon Bible Organization. Hayworth-Miller Kernersville Chapel is assisting the Stanley family.

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