Mrs. Joyce Worley

Funeral services for Mrs. Joyce Haley Worley, 89, of Long Branch will be 2:00 p.m. Thursday, May 15, 2014, at the Hawthorn Funeral Home Chapel with Dr. Ray Brooks officiating. Burial will follow in the Boynton Cemetery under the direction of Hawthorn Funeral Home. Family visitation will be 6-8:00 p.m. Wednesday night at the funeral home. Mrs. Worley died on Mother’s Day, May 11, 2014. Joyce Haley Worley was born December 23, 1924, at the home of her parents, Milton Pope Haley, Jr. and Gertrude McCormack Haley. She grew up in the Long Branch community surrounded by many dear friends, neighbors, and extended family members. She had particularly fond childhood memories of visits to her grandparents, John and Minnie McCormack, who lived just up the road. She attended Long Branch schools until the end of her junior year when the high school there consolidated to Carthage, where she attended her senior year and graduated in 1941. She dreamed of going to college, but those plans were changed when her father died unexpectedly about a month after graduation. As she always said, she grew up ‘”when a dollar was a dollar”. Times were hard for the family, and Joyce had to go to work to support herself and her mother. She found employment with the Agricultural Adjustment Agency, a forerunner to the current Farm Service Agency. This office helped to support the agricultural industry that was at that time the predominant industry in the county. She worked there a little over 15 years before becoming a full-time homemaker and mother. During her stint at the AAA office, she caught the eye of a young man who had also grown up in Long Branch, and after a courtship, she married Winston “Doc” Worley on February 26, 1951. After their marriage, he moved into the house with Joyce and her mother, with plans to buy their own home. However, shortly thereafter, her mother died, so they remained in Joyce’s childhood home where they raised their family. Mr. Worley died December 24, 1987, and she will be remembered for how she lovingly cared for him during his battle with cancer. Joyce continued to live in their home, and at the time of her death, she was still sleeping in the same room in which she was born. Mrs. Worley was proud of her Panola County roots, which she traced back to 1858, when her great-grandfather, Daniel Leslie, and his family settled along Trammel’s Trace near Murvaul Creek on the western border of Panola County. She was the unofficial historian of the Long Branch Community, and she diligently worked to record the history of its pioneer settlers in The History of Panola County, published in conjunction with the Bicentennial. She was a former member of the Panola County Historical Commission, and she was instrumental in the preservation and maintenance of the Leslie-Baker Cemetery, where her earliest Texas ancestors were laid to rest. She also was keenly interested in the Boynton Cemetery. She was an active, faithful member of Long Branch Missionary Baptist Church for many, many years. Some called her the Mayor of Long Branch. It was a title that she wasn’t particularly fond of because she preferred to stay in the background. If there were actually such an office, she never would have campaigned for the position. However, it was an appropriate title because she was a tireless supporter of everything good in the community. Mrs. Worley was an expert quilter, and an excellent traditional Southern cook. She believed in butter, sugar, and bacon grease. Her family loved her tea cakes, creamed potatoes, peas, and cornbread, and she was well known throughout the county for her caramel candy. Mrs. Worley is survived by her devoted sons, Bud Worley of Carthage, John Worley and wife Terri of Longview; grandchildren, Kristina, Grant and Wade; great granddaughter Cambreigh; a large extended family, and a host of friends. She loved flowers, and they are very much appreciated. However, for those wishing to make memorial contributions, the family suggests memorials to the Boynton Cemetery Fund, c/o John Worley, 5111 Whitaker Circle, Longview, Texas 75605.

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Mrs. Joyce Worley

December 23, 1924 - May 11, 2014