(January 4, 1929 – April 14, 2019)
Joyce Chandler Whitis finished her trail ride on earth, April 14, at the age of 90 years. Born January 4, 1929, her life was filled with numerous accomplishments, always with the thought of bettering Stephenville, a community she truly loved.
Funeral services will be held at 2:00 PM Friday, April 19, 2019 at Stephenville Funeral Home Chapel with Gary Williams officiating. Burial will follow at Huckabay Cemetery. The family will host a visitation at 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM Thursday at Stephenville Funeral Home.
Joyce lived near Stephenville for the past 66 years where she was a part of Whitis Holstein Farm, breeders and promoters of pure bred dairy cattle. She was the owner of Joyce’s Animal Farm as well as teacher at Huckabay, Lingleville, and Desdemona schools. She was well known as a newspaper and magazine columnist, recently publish a collection of her historic tales and was almost finished with book number two.
Joyce was the force behind the establishment of Moo-La on the square which honors the local dairy farmers and was honored as national dairy wife. She was instrumental in the establishment of the Erath County Humane Society, many veteran and historic monuments as well as the originator and biggest promoter dubbing Stephenville as the Cowboy Capital of the World. Joyce was an active member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, Daughters of the Republic of Texas and an honorary member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. She was active in the Chamber of Commerce and the Stephenville Historical Commission.
Her legacy includes a marriage to Thomas B. Whitis Jr. of 55 years. They had two children, Thomas B. Whitis III (Tommy) of Stephenville and daughter Barbara Whitis Sloan of Hurst. Joyce enjoyed 9 grandchildren, 21 great-grandchildren and 5 great-great-grandchildren. She is preceded in death by husband, Tom, and son, Tommy.
The Whitis family wishes expressions of sympathy be made in the form of donations to the Erath County Humane Society, P. O. Box 2006, Stephenville, Texas 76401
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