Joyce June Hunter Tipton

Joyce June Hunter Tipton was born September 16, 1939, the second of five siblings, to Kelsey and Stella Hunter in Vandervoort, Arkansas. She attended and graduated school at Van-Cove. Joyce was united in marriage to Raymond “Bob” Tipton on May 24, 1958. They were married nearly 58 years until his death, May 2, 2016.

Joyce held many jobs over the years but among her favorites were working at the Lighthouse Drive-In for the Robinson’s whom she considered “family.” She also worked at the Cove post office as a postal clerk where she enjoyed interacting with people. Sharp as a tack, she graduated at 17 as the Valedictorian of the Van-Cove Class of 1956. If you ever faced off with her in Trivia Crack, Trivial Pursuit or Jeopardy, you quickly learned that you always wanted to be on her team because she rarely missed a question. She remained an avid and dedicated Van-Cove Hornets fan all her days, and you could always find her with her fellow fans and good friends Alice Ricks and Red Dickison, sitting in “their spot” in the Hornet gym. They would give any referee heck if they felt they were treating their Hornets unfairly. Joyce was also a fan of any sport or activity her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and even her nieces and nephews participated in, and she rarely missed an event and enjoyed cheering them on from the sidelines. She was a gifted athlete herself, participating in basketball as a teen, softball as an adult and bowling in leagues most of her adult life. She loved the Hogs and watched the Razorbacks anytime they were televised and attended several games over the years.

Joyce rarely met a stranger and enjoyed any activity that involved socializing. She knew just about everyone in the area and their entire family history. She loved giving gifts and if you are local, you have probably received a gift from her for a wedding or a new baby.

The absolute joy of her life was her family. She was the most proud of her children, Kim and Randy, and being Gram to her 3 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. That loved extended to her siblings and her nieces and nephews as well. She traveled on a few vacations in her later years with her family to the Grand Canyon, the mountains of Colorado and to the beach where she was able to put her feet in the ocean for the first time when she was 78 (She didn’t like it much). If she was with family, she was happy and one of her favorite things was family Sunday dinners. When she was talking to you, she had a way of making you “know” how important you were to her and how much you were loved. Some of her favorite things were babies (ALL the babies), watching tennis, Elvis, and the color pink.

Joyce was a member of the First Baptist Church of Cove. She professed her faith in Jesus long ago and at the age of 80, despite her lifelong fear of water, followed Him in believer’s baptism at the Cossatot River.

Joyce was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Bob; her son, Randy; her sisters, Jean Winfield, and Mary Jane Tipton; her brother, Jerry Hunter. She is survived by her daughter, Kim DePriest and Ike; granddaughter, Celeste Ashcraft and Davy; grandson, Ryan Tipton and Amber; grandson, Dwight DePriest and Summer; great-grandchildren, Cassidy, Carmindy, and Camilla Ashcraft, Starla, Skyla and Randalynn Tipton, Sophia and Levi Cummings, Beckett and Memphis DePriest; brother, Jimmy Hunter and wife Shelly; sister-in-law, Barbara Hunter. Special friends, Julie, Rhonda, Lana, Kenzie, Piney, Susan, as well as a host of extended family and friends.

Services for Mrs. Tipton will be held at 2:00 p.m., Friday, July 15, 2022, at the First Baptist Church in Cove, Arkansas, with Brother Ron Ladd and Brother Jordan Hunter officiating, under the direction of Beasley-Wood Funeral Home. Interment will follow at the Pleasant Grove Cemetery in Cove, Arkansas.  There will be a visitation held Thursday, July 14, 2022, from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at Beasley-Wood Chapel, in Mena, Arkansas.

Pallbearers are Davy Ashcraft, Dwight DePriest, Ryan Tipton, Jeff Hunter, Jordan Hunter, Rodney Hunter. Honorary pallbearers are Donald Burk and Tooter Tucker.

Online obituary at www.beasleywoodfuneralhome.com

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