Mrs. Joyce Merchant Stocks, 91, died Monday, May 14, 2018 at The Blake in Oxford.  A graveside service will be held Saturday, May 19, 2018, at 11 a.m. at New Prospect Cemetery in Jasper, Alabama with Dr. Jim Stocks and Rev. Howard Wilson officiating.  Waller Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Born in Jasper on Jan. 19, 1927 to the late Laura Estelle Brown Merchant and Rufus Eli Merchant, Joyce was converted at age 15 at an open-air revival near Jasper.

She married Morris H. Stocks, Sr. at The Parrish Church of The Nazarene in Parrish, Alabama.

In 1950, she graduated from Trevecca Nazarene College in Nashville. After teaching for several years, she received her Master’s Degree in Library Science from the University of Kentucky in Lexington.

In January 2000, she was preceded in death by her husband of 50 years.  In addition to her husband and parents, she was preceded in death by an infant brother, Brown Merchant, her only sister, Mary Rose Merchant Pickard and her infant great-granddaughter, Eden Rose Farmer.

Survivors include three daughters, Beverly Stocks Strickland and her husband, Ira of Jacksonville, Florida, Angela Stocks Farmer and her husband, Gary of Cincinnati, Ohio and Stephanie Stocks Rosenjack and her husband, Ricky of Colleyville, Texas; one son, Dr. Morris H. Stocks, Jr. and his wife, Cindy of Oxford; 11 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

Memorial contributions in Mrs. Stocks’ memory may be made to Oxford Church of The Nazarene, 253 Hwy 7 South, Oxford, MS 38655, Nazarene Compassionate Ministries, 17001 Prairie Star Parkway, Lenexa, KS 66220, or Trevecca Nazarene University, Office of External Relations, 333 Murfreesboro Road, Nashville, TN 37210-2877.