William Lee Joyner

Funeral services celebrating the life of Mr. William Lee Joyner will begin at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, November 21, 2022 at Robert Barham Family Funeral Home, with The Reverends Ben Jones and Davey Wilkinson officiating. Interment rites will be immediately follow at Orange Cemetery in Clarke County. Robert Barham Family Funeral Home is honored to be entrusted with the arrangements.

Mr. Joyner, age 97, of Meridian, died on November 18, 2022 at Bedford Care Center of Marion.

Mr. Joyner was born on December 30, 1924 in Scooba, Mississippi. He entered the Navy in 1943 during World War II, serving in the European Invasion in France, then was sent to the Pacific. He was in Okinawa when the bombs were dropped in Nagasaki and Hiroshima. He stayed in Okinawa until the surrender of Japan. After returning home, he caught a troop train from San Francisco to New Orleans, where he was honorably discharged and received a discharge payment of $15.00. After the war, he attended college at EMCC on the G.I. Bill from 1946 until 1948. On June 1, 1950, he joined the Mississippi Highway Patrol and served for 32 years. He retired as a Lieutenant. At the time of his death, he was the oldest living retired State Trooper in the state of Mississippi. He had a passion for old cars and enjoyed restoring them.

Survivors include his wife, Nora Joy Joyner; children, Zoanne Joyner Ingram and Jann Joyner Burns; step-sons, Dave Holley (Joy) and Gene Holley (Sherry); grandchild, Thomas Gregory “Zeke” Ingram (Heather); step-grandchildren, Rachel Lee (Kellon), Sarah Davis (Justin), and Will Holley; great-granddaughter, Ivy Ingram; one step-great-granddaughter, Giles Grace Lee; and numerous other family members and friends.

He was preceded in death by his first wife, Fredna Melton Joyner; one grandson, William Zachary Ingram; and his parents.

Pallbearers will be Ricky Simmons, Dusty Simmons, Gene Holley, Justin Davis, Will Holley, and Zeke Ingram.

Online condolences may be expressed to the family at www.robertbarhamffh.com .

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be made to Gateway Church (P.O. Box 5, Lauderdale, Mississippi 39335).

The family will receive friends from 10:00 until 10:45 a.m. on Monday, November 21, 2022 at the funeral home.