Joy Rae Hutto, 80, of Joaquin, passed away Wednesday, October 21, 2026, in Tyler.

Funeral service will be held at 2:00 p.m., Friday, October 23, 2026, at Watson & Sons Funeral Home in Center with visitation beginning at Noon. Interment will follow at Ramah Cemetery in Tenaha.

On December 17, 1945, Joy became the second of two girls born to Clifford Edward Lay and Carrie Lee Brumbelow Lay. At age five, the family moved to New Iberia, Louisiana, where her father was a Driller for Shell Oil Company. Joy graduated from New Iberia High School in 1963 and Spencers Business College in Lafayette, Louisiana, in 1964.

After college, she moved to Houston, Texas, where her older married sister lived and started employment with Southwestern Bell Telephone Company as a secretary. Later, she worked for Foley's Department Store as secretary to the buyer in the small Appliance Department. She left Foley's on maternity leave to give birth to twins on May 8, 1972, a boy and girl- Charles Edward and Cherie Rae. She then stayed home to raise the twins until the age of seven.

Returning to the work force, she was employed as a secretary for several companies in the following years- Pittsburg Testing Laboratory of Houston, Texas, University of Houston and finally landing at NASA, Lockheed Martin, Clear Lake City, Texas as an administrative assistant, where she worked for nineteen years until she retired in 2008 to the country.

She was a member of the Paxton Methodist Church in Tenaha, Texas, and VFW Auxiliary Post 8904 in Center, Texas.

In 1967, she met her life-long love at the apartment complex she shared with a friend. The complex allotted one parking space per apartment, and neither owned a car, so their parking space was always empty. Some guy in the upstairs unit boldly started using it as he and his roommate each had a car but only one assigned space. After about a week of this, Joy left a very to the point message to please refrain from using their parking space. After apologies and things smoothed over, they started dating. Ten months later, on May 17, 1968, they entered a marriage that lasted a lifetime- full of fun, travel and banter.

Joy is preceded in death by her loving husband of 58 years, Gene Wayne Hutto; both parents, Clifford Edward Lay and Carrie Lee Brumbelow Lay; half-brother, Willie Lee Lay and wife Velta; and sister, Gerldine (Lay) Rodgers and husband Ralph.

She is survived by her son, Charles Edward Hutto and wife Kim of Humble, Texas; daughters, Mary Virginia Thornton of Round Rock, Texas, and Cherie Rae (Hutto) Erickson and husband Robert of Baytown, Texas; two grandsons, Patrick Bass Sullivan of Houston and Austin Charles Hutto of Humble, Texas; and sister, Lou Ann (Lay) Matlock of The Woodlands, Texas.