Alice Joy Ellington Weaver passed away at her home in Center, Texas on December 29, 2014, at the age of 95, surrounded by her daughter, grandson and longtime employee.

Visitation will be held from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., Thursday, January 1, 2015 at Watson & Sons Funeral Home in Center. Funeral service will be held at 2:00 p.m., Friday, January 2, 2015 at Watson & Sons Chapel. Interment will follow at Fairview Cemetery in Center.

Joy Weaver was born on May 6, 1919, in Patroon, Texas to loving parents, Dr. John Henry Ellington and Verna Laura Bell Ellington. She was raised in San Augustine, Texas where her father was a respected physician in private practice. Dr. Ellington was also the doctor for the Santa Fe Railroad which gave Joy the opportunity for great travels during her youth with her parents across the country by rail.

She attended school in San Augustine and attended Texas Women's University in Denton and Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches before transferring to the University of Texas in Austin as a sophomore. At Texas she pledged Chi Omega sorority and was elected a "Bluebonnet Bell Beauty". It was at UT that she met the person who quickly became her best friend and then the love of her life, Martin Weaver, from Center, Texas--a mere 20 miles from her hometown.

Joy married Martin on Wednesday, October 29, 1941, as Wednesday was her lucky day. Seven years later they were blessed by the birth of their only child, Joy Ann Weaver Havran, who was their pride and joy.

Joy Weaver was a pillar of the East Texas community enhancing the lives of those with whom she came in contact. She was the epitome of a charming and genteel Southern lady with a will of iron, impeccable manners, incredible wisdom and a gentle spirit. She was the "rock" of her family, handling every situation with amazing grace and utmost dignity and integrity. A woman of unwavering faith, even under extreme adversity, a woman who never complained and was always unselfish, putting others before her, Joy Weaver was a role model to all who knew her.

She was a charter member of Beta Sigma Phi and was involved in every aspect of the Center schools while her daughter was a student, including being a room mother for almost every grade level and a chaperone on the weekends at the Center Youth Center. An active member of First Christian Church, she taught Vacation Bible School and made funnel cakes at their booth at the Poultry Festival until a few years before her death. Joy also enjoyed golf, horseback riding and fishing with her beloved husband.

Her family was truly her life. She was a devoted wife to Martin, helping him establish his business, Weaver Brothers Lumber Company, and even holding a light as a newlywed while he loaded lumber to ship to market. She was truly the wind beneath his wings and always supported his business. When Martin was drafted into World War II, she followed him to Fort Benning in Georgia and to Camp Roberts in Paso Robles, California, taking an apartment nearby to be with him. When he was sent to Japan, she lived in Dallas, Texas, with another "army wife" and worked at Neiman Marcus-Downtown. Here she was employed in the toy department and sold the featured Christmas catalogue item -- a life-size playhouse.

After the war, Joy and Martin returned to Center and Weaver Brothers and were instrumental in establishing the poultry industry and promoting tourism for Toledo Bend. Always the consummate hostess, Joy entertained scores of sportswriters and potential investors to introduce them to Shelby County.

Throughout her life, she never missed a function in which her daughter, Joy Ann, or the lights of her life, her grandsons Barrett and Blake, participated. From baton twirling contests across Texas and Fort Worth events for Joy Ann to plays and junior high and high school sports for her two grandsons, Barrett and Blake, to Barrett's University of Texas and Blake's Baylor University Track and Field Meets, respectively, throughout the Big 12 Conference, Joy was always there.