Joyce Polk Obituary

POLK, Joyce Joyce B. Polk, 74, beloved wife, mother, and grandmother, passed away with family in attendance on Monday, December 11, 2006 at Sentara Careplex in Hampton, Virginia. Joyce was born on January 26, 1932 in Memphis, Tennessee to John W. and Mary L. Burns, who, along with her brother Winfred W. Burns, predeceased her. After graduating salutatorian of her class at Tech High School in Memphis in 1950, Joyce obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of Southwestern at Memphis in 1954. She then worked as a management analyst for several years for the Department of the Navy in Memphis where she met her future husband, Robert F. Polk (Frank). Joyce and Frank were married in 1959, and after they started their family Joyce began what would become her life-long career as a teacher, working in schools in Darien, Georgia and Charleston. She completed her Master's degree in Education at The Citadel in 1988 and finished her teaching career in Beaufort, retiring in 1997. Joyce is lovingly remembered and will be greatly missed by her husband of 47 years, Frank Polk, of Hampton, Virginia; her daughter and son-in-law, Holly and Chuck Blackmon and their children, Andrew, Laura, John, and Thomas, of Yorktown, Virginia; her son and daughter-in-law, Bobby and Kelly Polk and their son, Chad, of Summerville; and her daughter, Sara Alison Polk of Charleston. Extended family includes her brothers-in-law and their wives, Joe and Belle Polk, Bill and Pat Polk, Dan and Patsy Polk, and Bubba and Barbara Polk; sister-in-law Dorothy Burns, cousins Billie Morse and Robbie Burgett, and 16 nieces and nephews. A memorial service will be held January 6, 2007 at llam at the Varnville Cemetery Chapel. Reception to follow at the Williams Farm in Brunson. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Varnville Cemetery Association, P.O. Box 707, Varnville, SC, 29944. Visit our guestbook at www.charleston.net/deaths.