Joyce Ledbetter-Brown

JONESBORO - Joyce Ledbetter-Brown passed from life on her 99th birthday, Aug. 31, 2025. She was the only child born to Albert Henry Mayo of Olean, N.Y., and Earline Carr Mayo of Water Valley, Miss. She was born in Fort Worth, Texas. Her father was educated as an engineer of chemical and petroleum, so she and her mother followed him as he built refineries through the oil boom years in Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas. Her High School years were spent in Tulsa and Duncan, Okla.

During the final year of WW2, Joyce began Nursing School at St. Peters in Dallas, and therein met her first husband, Dr. John Paul Ledbetter, MD, of Jonesboro. He was completing his medical internship while serving in the United States Army Medical Corps. They married there in 1946, and upon his discharge, came to Jonesboro, where he began a private practice of general medicine and surgery. Four children sprang from this marriage; Mark Ledbetter, Patti Ledbetter, Michael Ledbetter, and Drake Ledbetter. The couple built a home adjacent to Jonesboro High School, where they kept a few horses, grew grapes, and raised the kids.

During her early years in Jonesboro, Joyce was involved in civic, social, and church activities, including the Junior Auxiliary, the Follies, and supporting the Craighead County Library. She was active in the Helen Dudley Initiative within local schools to assist children with special needs. And, she greatly enjoyed her Bridge Club of dear friends.

Joyce was keenly interested in architectural design, was an avid reader with a strong, lasting memory. She loved music, art, and literature, and encouraged her husband and children to play, draw, paint, and write. She was an adventurous and excellent cook. Her interest in nature …the birds, insects, flowers, and trees is a legacy now occupying its third generation. She loved handwritten letters and so corresponded as long as she could hold a pen, with friends and family, far and wide.

Paul Ledbetter died in 1966 at the age of 44. Then just 39, Joyce chose to stay and raise their children in the home which they had built together. One was in college, another in high school, a third in junior high, and the youngest in kindergarten. She began working as the receptionist and secretary for Dr. Bascom P. Raney, MD, and engaged the much-loved Mary S. Parks to help her with the home and children.

At the age of 59, her children being adults, married and living out on their own, Joyce married Vance Allen Brown, Sr., then of Jonesboro, in 1986. She and Vance enjoyed the last 39 years together. They built a vacation home of her design at Norfork Lake and developed friendships in that area. Together, they frequented all the good dancing spots and restaurants in Jonesboro and Mountain Home. They enjoyed a good, loving, and long life with each other.

There were no children born of this union, but in those latter years, the couple welcomed and relied upon the companionship, comfort, and support of Vance's children, Valerie Sills, Vanessa Russell, and Vance Brown, Jr.

Joyce was preceded in death by her parents and both husbands. She was also predeceased by her only daughter, Patricia Mayo Ledbetter Wright.

She is survived by her three sons: Mark, Michael, and Drake. She is also survived by seven grandchildren: Paul and Sarah Ledbetter, Kathryn Wright Mayo and William Wright, Mitchell Ledbetter, and Laura Catherine and Rhys Ledbetter. And, she is survived by five great-grandchildren.

Her family is grateful to Sonja Isbell of Bentonville for the gentle, tender care she gave to Joyce during her final weeks and her gracious support of the family.

Her family is also grateful to the nurses and aides of St. Bernards Home Hospice, who provided their skills, wisdom, advice, and the supplies which allowed Joyce to remain in her beloved home through her end of days.

She hated long obituaries like this one. (Sorry, Mom.)

Joyce requested no services or memorials, so there are no public gatherings planned at this time, and remaining proceedings will be private.