Joy Johnston

Joy Shipman Johnston was born March 14, 1931 in Boston Pool, rural Osage County, Oklahoma. She was the daughter of Virgil Jackson and Mary Tennie (Ragland) Shipman. Joy was raised in Osage where she attended school and completed her education at Osage High School after completion of the eleventh grade; later obtaining her GED. Upon completion of her education, Joy worked at the East Side CafÈ in Tulsa, Oklahoma on two or three different occasion as a waitress and serving customers. She was married to Bill Hudspeth and then later to Jimmy Davis. In 1964, Joy moved to New Orleans, Louisiana. While working as a waitress, she met Robert L. Johnston and the couple were later united in marriage on March 7, 1968. In 1974, the couple moved to Cleveland and Joy began a career as a bookkeeper; working for Dale Carter Lumber and then T. H. Rogers Lumber Company until the early 1980ís. For a few years, Joy changed career paths and served in the private duty nursing field for a few years before returning the her job as a bookkeeper when she accepted employment for Parrish Meadors Construction Company; where she worked for nearly six years. Joy and Bob started working for The World Publishing Company, serving as rural paper carriers for both the Tulsa World and Tribune in the Cleveland area which they continued to do for many years. Joy enjoyed spending time with her family including her children, brothers, sisters and their families; she especially enjoyed traveling to Tennessee to see her daughter. She loved playing bingo and going to the local casinos, as well as the casinos in Tunica, Mississippi. Bob and Joy moved to their current home in Cleveland in the early 1990ís. Joy passed away on Thursday, February 10, 2011, at her home in Cleveland at the age of seventy-nine years. She was preceded in death by her parents, Virgil Jackson and Mary Tennie Shipman; two sisters, Wilma and Muriel Buchannan; and three brothers, V. J. , David Emanuel, and Buford Norman Shipman. She is survived by husband of forty-two years, Bob Johnston of the home; three daughters, Lois (Sandy) Williams of Alcoa, Tennessee, Gretchen and her husband, Joey Keller of New Orleans, Louisiana, and Tanya Hudspeth of Bartlesville, Oklahoma; two sons, Robert Lloyd Johnston, Jr. of Jacksonville, Florida and Tracy Lamar Lablanc of Bergenfield, New Jersey; two grandchildren, Chad and Gina Williams; a step granddaughter, Tiffany and a step great-grandchild; two sisters, Wanda Gayle Smith of Cleveland, Oklahoma and Jackie Denvalee and husband, Earl Freeman of Cleveland, Oklahoma; three brothers, Charles Laverne (Bones) Shipman of Brazoria, Texas, Dale Keith Shipman and wife Kathy of Tyler, Texas, and Michael Lloyd Shipman and wife Kay of Bartlesville, Oklahoma. . Funeral services will be held at 10:00 AM Tuesday, February 15, 2011 at the Chapman-Black Funeral Home with Pastor Dan Edens officiating. Burial will be at the Osage Cemetery under the direction of the Chapman-Black Funeral Home.