Joyce Marie (Gotcher) Mcdaniel

Joyce Marie McDaniel, 91, went to be with her Lord Sunday, June 23rd, 2024.

Funeral is 11:00 a.m. Saturday, June 29th, at First Baptist Church in Decatur with burial at Oaklawn Cemetery. Family will receive friends 6-8:00 p.m. Friday at Hawkins Funeral Home in Decatur.

Dr. David Lowrie will officiate. Pallbearers include Tim Terrell, Jeff Elder, Rex Hoskins, Kyle Badger, Gary Caraway, Rowdy Lisby, and Bill Fennell. Honorary Pallbearer is Bobby Wilson.

Joyce Marie Gotcher McDaniel was born at home in the Allison Community to Jesse and Ruth Gotcher on May 25, 1933, delivered by a country doctor. At the age of 3, her family moved to Greenwood. It was here she began elementary school. It’s hard to believe but she was a shy and bashful child. She would often get marked absent by the teacher because she did not want to answer “here” when the roll was called.  At age 7, the family moved to Decatur where she started 2nd grade and continued through her senior year.

She met her future husband and the love of her life, E.H. “Speck” McDaniel in 1950 during her senior year but he did not make a very good first impression on her. She worked at Kenny Renshaw Drug store on the Decatur square and he routinely came in the store to flirt with her but she thought he was so arrogant and full of himself.  In spite of this arrogance, they began dating. In 1951, they made plans to leave for Carlsbad NM to get married. They met behind The Greathouse Hotel on the square where her parents had a coffee shop and a café inside the hotel.

Her little sisters cried because they did not want her to leave them and her father gave her 99 reasons why she should not marry him, with the number 1 reason being he was 11 years older than her! They were married anyway on February 23, 1951 in the Carlsbad County courthouse by a judge, ate a wedding dinner at a small café and were happily married for 42 years until his untimely death in 1993.

In 2016, at the age of 83, she discovered Facebook and learned that she was a great writer and began writing stories about her life and family and how things were in Decatur in the 30s, 40s, and 50s. She became an unofficial historian of all things Decatur. She was a member of First Baptist Church in Decatur for over 60 years, and taught the 5yr Old Sunday school class for 55 years as well as serving in many other areas in the church.

She is preceded in death by her husband E.H. Speck McDaniel, sisters Maxine Walker and Betty Jean Smith, daughter Tina McDaniel and grandson Dustin Reid.

She is survived by daughters Pam Welsh and husband J.R. of Woodland, CA, Leah Pitts and husband Bill of Decatur, Krista Granger and husband Andy, of Decatur.  Five grandchildren: Kenny Reid, Jacob Lewis, Maycee Dwinell and husband Marcus, Spencer Pitts and Cameron Pitts all of Decatur.  Two great grandchildren Kenzie and Kaylee Dwinell of Decatur and sister Dorothy Childers of Decatur, as well as a host of nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.