Joy Dell Davidson

Joy Dell Coe Davidson was born in Riesel, Texas, to Hersey and Bertha Coe on November 22, 1930 and died peacefully and unexpectedly at her home on July 28, 2020. Each day of her life, she lived these words from Proverbs and with her husband created a home in which her children would grow to embrace the same trust in the Lord that they saw in her. She leaves behind a legacy of faith, love, and generosity that touched not only her family but her community as well.

Joy was a kind, gentle, and tenacious woman. She loved God and her family with all her heart, and she never missed an opportunity to put that love into action, always giving but always reluctant to receive. She truly had a servant’s heart.

While on her lunch break from working at a record store in downtown Bryan in January 1951, she walked into Sam’s Luncheonette and met the love of her life, Robert “Bob” Duard Davidson. Just four months later, the two were married on May 6, 1951, and started their lives together in Bryan, Texas. Theirs was a love that lasted through both of their lives. They were married for 56 years and raised four children together.

The constants in Joy’s life were family, faith, and church. Her faith in God guided her as she and Duard raised their children, Susan, Bruce, Ken, and Linda. Nothing could make her smile more than being surrounded by her family. Joy showed her love for her family through acts of service—sewing clothes for the daughters, canning food, and, despite her slight frame, even helping Duard with punching cattle. Her children remember a home filled with love and faith and a mother who acknowledged God in all her ways.

That same faith compelled her to share her love of Jesus with others, and she did so by teaching Sunday school to fourth graders for over forty years. She doubtless influenced hundreds of children, and that legacy is one that will continue beyond her years. Those children learned from the lessons she taught, but they also learned by her example of selfless love. Joy reached out to the hurting and hungry, often giving homecooked meals to those in need and helping to organize her church’s ministry of providing food for funerals. Joy was dedicated to her faith in God and to her church; she was a founding and lifelong member of Fellowship Free Will Baptist Church in Bryan.

Besides her parents and husband, Mrs. Davidson was preceded in death by her daughter-in-law Sara Davidson; brothers Wilburn Coe, Norman Coe, and sister Virginia Holloman.

She is survived by her children, daughter Susan Lee, son Bruce Davidson, son Ken and his wife Karen, and daughter Linda McMillan and her husband Lonnie.

She was the proud grandmother of nine grandchildren: Jon Lee and his wife Laura, Amy (Davidson) Dollyhigh and husband Eric, Kristin (Davidson) Barnett and husband Frank, Bryan Davidson, Lauren Davidson Former and husband Bennet, Ben McMillan, Brad McMillan and wife Terra, Sarah McMillan, and Stella McMillan; and 11 greatgrandchildren Olivia Lee, David Lee, Drew Dollyhigh, Annalise Dollyhigh, Cole Dollyhigh, Carter Dollyhigh, Allison Barnett, Hailey Barnett, Evan Barnett, Aaron Barnett, and Caleb McMillan.

She is also survived by sister Artie Manning and her husband Horace, and brothers James Coe, and Don Coe and wife Cathy, sister-in-laws Marjorie Morris, Joan Coe and Dena Coe, and brother-in-law Earl Holloman.

Visitation will be at 9:00 a.m. Saturday, at Fellowship Free Will Baptist Church, 1228 West Villa Maria Road, Bryan, Texas, with the service immediately following at 10:00. Burial will follow at the Bryan City Cemetery.