In addition to her role as a Presbyterian minister’s wife, Joyce was a gifted teacher. She inspired countless students in seminars and classes to love literature and music, to love her Savior, and to live nobly. She treasured her garden and her bees and all things in nature – she created beauty in a broken world. She was passionate about truth and she showed others how to seek it.

Joyce Elizabeth Horton Herring of Franklin, TN, died December 20, 2014, at home and surrounded by her family. She was born in 1949 in Grenada, MS, to Joyce Matthews Horton and Frank Collins Horton.

Joyce married Wayne Clement Herring and spent the next four-and-a-half decades in faithful and devoted service to him and their five daughters. She graduated from Belhaven College in 1970 with a BA and received an MA in English literature from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1992.

In addition to her role as a Presbyterian minister’s wife, Joyce was a gifted teacher. She inspired countless students in seminars and classes to love literature and music, to love her Savior, and to live nobly. She treasured her garden and her bees and all things in nature – she created beauty in a broken world. She was passionate about truth and she showed others how to seek it.

Affectionately called Muth by her daughters and Muff by her 12 grandchildren, Joyce poured herself into those around her. Her thoughtfulness, selflessness and graciousness were unparalleled. She mentored, loved, and changed many lives.

Joyce is survived by her husband, Wayne, and by her daughters: Jenny Kate McMullan of Brentwood, her husband, Paul, and their children Mary Collins, Katherine, Pallie, Lucy, Duncan, and Charlotte; Dabney Stevens of Atlanta, her husband, Chris, and their children Hunt, Will, and Sara Elizabeth; Amanda McGown of Brentwood, her husband, Cole, and their children Knox, Gray, and Pallas; Susannah Herring of Nashville; and Emily Lamb of Nashville, her husband, Travis, and their baby on the way.

She glorified and enjoyed God on this earth, and now she is glorifying and enjoying Him forever in heaven.

Following a private graveside service, a Memorial service, to which all are welcome, will be Monday, December 22, 2014, at Covenant Presbyterian Church at 11 a.m.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial contributions be made to the J.C. Herring Endowment Fund at the PCA Foundation, the Charles Simeon Trust, or New College Franklin.

Source