Joy Brenda (Schneider) Ross

She was a 1959 graduate from Lonoke High School and went on to attend Ouachita Baptist University where she graduated with a degree in education in 1963. It was at OBU that she met her future husband, Wendell Ross. They married on July 20, 1963 in the old sanctuary at First Baptist Church in Fort Smith.

Once Wendell started medical school at UAMS, Joy went to work as an elementary school teacher in the Little Rock School system until he graduated and entered the Air Force. It was during this time of life that they began their unique family. They adopted their daughters Robin and Wrenne, while Wendell attended medical school and completed his residency. Wendell returned home from Viet Nam with their son, Michael.

After his military service, Wendell joined a small medical practice in El Campo, Texas. In El Campo Joy quickly made friends, and became active in church and in the community. However, as the years passed they longed to return home to Arkansas. They finally got the opportunity to come home when Wendell joined the family practice of Dr.s Lilly, Kutait, Pillstrom, and Ingram.

When they arrived in Fort Smith Joy was a stay at home mom that was a leader at First Baptist Church in the children and women’s ministries, as well as helping Wendell lead a couples class for many years. Once her youngest entered high school, she returned to work as a school teacher; teaching at Ramsey Junior High as a special education instructor, then finishing her career at Kimmons Junior High as the instructor of the gifted and talented program. During her tenure in the Fort Smith school system she was able to obtain her Master’s Degree in education as a part-time student at the University of Arkansas.

After her retirement as an educator, Joy poured herself into various projects, including her operation of a quilt shop in down town Van Buren, Arkansas, and breeding West Highland Terriers. She and Wendell traveled the country in their RV delivering puppies from New York to Florida.

Joy’s later years were filled with service to her church. She and Wendell led the Community Bible Class at First Baptist Church in Van Buren, Arkansas, for several years, and she was the leader of the “Orchard” class at First Baptist Church in Fort Smith, which was a ministry of teaching and encouragement to women of the church. Most recently she served at Chaffee Crossing Baptist Church creating coloring book kits for children, praying for the membership, and hosting a monthly ladies’ meeting in her home.

Joy will be remembered as a colorful character who had a great appetite for life, enjoyed telling stories, relished a good theological debate, and loved her family. She loved her Lord, and was a true student of God’s word. She will be missed by all those whose lives she touched.

She is preceded in death by her husband, Dr. Wendell Ross, parents Henry and Pebble Schneider, and her brothers Henry Schneider, Jr., and Thomas Schneider, and her sister Imogene Holland. She is survived by her three children Robin DeLay and her husband Gunner, Wrenne Gillson and her husband Rob, her son Michael, and her eight grandchildren Taylor Payton and her husband Drew, Gunner DeLay II and his wife Britta, Caroline Afoakwah and her husband Will, Suzanna DeLay, Lexi Gillson, Emily Gillson, Maddie Ross, and Andrew Ross, and two great-grandchildren, Gunner DeLay III and Tatum Jayne DeLay.