Joyce Marie Brickhouse, age 86, of the Wortham Bend Area, passed away in Justin, Texas, on June 28, 2016.  Funeral service will be 10 A.M. Thursday, at the Wotham Bend Oak Grove Baptist Church.  Interment will follow at the Wortham Bend Cemetery under the direction of Foss Funeral Home and Cremation Services.

Joyce Marie Wortham Brickhouse was born September 25, 1929, in Aquilla, TX,  the fourth child and third daughter of Bill (William N.II)  and Blanche Wortham.  She grew up in Wortham Bend and graduated from Waco High School.

After graduation she was employed with "the telephone company", as she always referred to it, and worked in Dallas, New Orleans, Louisiana, and Denver, Colorado.  While living in Denver she married, a union that lasted 18 years and produced three children.  After retiring from Baylor Hospital, she built a home on a piece of the family land she had purchased many years previous. It was there that she lived out her days under the live oaks she loved, with her family and friends nearby, until she felt it was time to live with her daughter.

Like so many of us she worked hard, loved her children, and enjoyed family and friends.  But her greatest pleasure was working in her yard - mowing, trimming, pruning.  She would then sit on the porch and enjoy the fruits of her labor.  She always complained about rain – there was either not enough or there was too much!

May she be remembered as a person who never asked for much; a humble woman who worked hard, whether in the cotton fields as a child or on her own property in her later years; a mother who wanted the best for her children and loved them in spite of their failings.  She was gentle and kind; she believed in Jesus and prayed for her loved ones.  She was daughter, sister, friend and mother.  She was loved.

She is predeceased by her parents: brother Billy (William N. III); sister Wanda; and brother George.  She is survived by her children Cheryl Powell, of Justin, TX; Mark Brickhouse and wife, Patricia of Waco;  Steve Brickhouse of Laguna Park, and step-daughters Karen Brickhouse and Ervina Allison of Virginia.  Grandchildren Tyler Powell and wife, Crystal; Cody Powell and wife, Vanessa; Jeffrey Brickhouse; Brittany Willner and husband, Brad; Jennifer Brickhouse; step- granddaughter Camila Rios;  and "adopted" granddaughter Heidi Lauterbach.  Great-grandchildren are Trenton, Camryn, and Téa Powell; Malakai and Rowan Willner; and step-great grandchildren Kellyn, Kohl, Britain, and Blake Evans.  Also, her sisters Tempest Neal and Nadine Prince, and brother Ed Wortham and his wife, Kathy.   In addition, there are numerous nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends, especially her best friend since they were five years old, Alvena Prause Pocock.

We love you and miss you already.  You've taken pieces of our hearts with you, but we will see you again.

No more down rows, momma.  No more down rows.