Joyce Craven Mize

Joyce Craven Mize, 70, of Emerald Isle, passed away Sunday, January 19, 2020, at Carteret Health Care with her family by her side.

There will be a Celebration of Life between 2 p.m. and  3:30 p.m. on Thursday, January 23, 2020, at Munden Funeral Home.  A private memorial service will be held in June in Cabarrus County with her beloved brothers and sisters and their families.

Born in Concord, North Carolina, on June 20, 1949, Joyce was the daughter of Melvin Eugene Craven, a salesman and World War II veteran, and Mildred Motley Craven, a cotton mill worker and homemaker.  Joyce attended grammar school and the first three years of high school in Concord at W. R. Odell School.  She graduated in 1967 from Northwest Cabarrus High School as part of the school’s first graduating class.  A few months later, Joyce’s father bought her a heavy coat and drove her to Appalachian State University.  In 1971, she left Boone with two things that would shape the rest of her life, a Bachelor of Arts in English and Larry Mize.  Joyce and Larry married on July 8, 1972, and moved to New Bern, North Carolina.  While in New Bern, Joyce taught English at Pamlico High School.  Joyce and Larry relocated to Emerald Isle in 1978, several years after the opening of what their young sons, Jon and Ben, called the “big bridge.”

Joyce stayed at home with her children until she returned to teaching in the early 1990s.  She taught English in the Carteret County School System, first at West Carteret High School and then at Croatan High School.  Following her retirement, she taught part-time in the High School Equivalency Program at Carteret Community College.  Her students knew Joyce (Mrs. Mize) as her friends and family knew her: witty, well-read, tough but fair, and conscientious.  She brought the same level of commitment to her remedial grammar students as she did to an Honors English class.

A talented seamstress who made her own wedding dress, Joyce expressed love through her creativity.  She made custom Barbie clothes for her nieces, repaired cherished stuffed animals and tailored Halloween costumes for her sons and later her grandsons.  Joyce also loved animals of all shapes, sizes, and degrees of domestication and was quick to alert visitors to sightings of the exotic wildlife of Emerald Isle (possums, orange feral cats and the stray UPS truck).  She shared a love of birds with her grandson Elliott and a love of the arts with her grandson Charlie.  She was an avid viewer of British mystery shows.  Her bookshelves held the classics alongside cheap mystery books.  Her car was always filled with music (and constructive criticism of the driving).

She was diagnosed with cancer in 2018.  She fought the disease as she lived her life: in her own way and on her own terms.  Joyce/Aunt Joyce/Mrs. Mize/Mom/Grammy is survived by her husband, Larry Mize, of the home; sons Jon and wife Leslie of Raleigh and Ben and wife Courtney of Swansboro; sister Joan Lambert and husband Kenneth of Concord; brothers David Craven and wife Pam of Concord, Mark Craven and wife Kathy of Kannapolis, Aaron Craven and Karen Hamilton of Davidson, and Paul Craven and wife April of Mountain View, Arkansas; and grandchildren, Charlie Mize and Elliott Mize.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials to two of Joyce’s favorite causes, pets and vets:  The Carteret County Humane Society and Animal Shelter or Operation Second Chance.

Family and friends are welcome to submit online condolences at www.mundenfuneralhome.net.

Arrangements are by Munden Funeral Home & Crematory, Morehead City, North Carolina.