Joseph "Joe" Iredell Joyner

Joseph Iredell Joyner November 26, 1929 – May 1, 2014

Joseph “Joe” Iredell Joyner, 84, of Wilson passed away Thursday. Funeral services will be conducted 2 p.m. Monday at Joyner’s Funeral Home. Interment will follow in Maplewood Cemetery. The Rev. Ray Wells and Rev. Gary Walling will officiate.

The family will receive friends 5 – 8 p.m. Sunday evening at Joyner’s Funeral Home, 4100 Raleigh Road Parkway West, Wilson and other times at 1103 Greenbriar Road, Wilson. A reception will be held Monday afternoon following interment at the Wilson Elks Lodge.

Joe graduated from Charles L. Coon High School in 1947. He attended N.C. State University 1947 – 1949 and graduated with a BA from Atlantic Christian College in 1951. He became a licensed Funeral Director in 1950 and was employed with Joyner’s Funeral Home, Inc. from 1949 until the time of his death. He became President in 1965 and Chairman of the Board in 1995. He was a third generation owner of Joyner’s Funeral Home, Inc. Joe served on the Board of Directors of the NC Funeral Directors Association for four years.

Joe became a Mason in Wilson Lodge #712 in March of 1959 and became Master in 1964. He joined the New Bern Scottish Rites Bodies in April 1959 and was a Past President of the Wilson County Scottish Rite Club. Joe was a member of Mt. Lebanon York Rites Bodies. He joined Sudan Shriners in May of 1959 in Rocky Mount. In 1992, he was appointed to the Divan of Sudan Shriners by Potentate Arnold L. Brown and moved up the Divan line until his election as Potentate of Sudan Shriners on January 27, 2001. He was President of the Wilson County Shrine Club in 1963. In 1962, Joe helped Carl B. Renfro to start the Wilson County Shrine Horse Patrol which became the Sudan Horse Patrol in 1963. He was a charter member of the South Atlanta Horse Patrol Association and served as President 1976 – 1977. He was a member of the International Shrine Horse Patrol Association and a member of the Knights of Meca. Joe was a Past Director of New Bern Court #145 Royal Order of Jesters. He was active in other clubs. Joe was Past Governor of the Wilson Moose Lodge and a Past District Director of the NC Moose Association, a member of the Legion of Moose and the Fellowship Degree, and Past President of the Wilson Jaycees, where he was named Jaycee of the Year twice and received the Wilson Distinguished Service Award (man of the year in Wilson). He was a member of the Wilson Elks Lodge, the TPA and was a former Chairman of the Wilson Fireman Relief Fund. He received the Service to Mankind Award from the Wilson Sertoma Club in 2008. Joe was a member of First Christian Church in Wilson where he served as an Elder and Deacon.

Joe is survived by his daughters, MaryKathryn Joyner Quinn of Wilson and Jo Anne Joyner Dreitzler of Raleigh; his son, Joseph Iredell “Dell” Joyner, Jr. and wife, Michelle of Wilson; his grandchildren, Cameron Johnson and husband, Randall of Raleigh, Paige Barnhill and husband, Todd of Bailey, Annie Dreitzler, Zachary Dreitzler and Nicholas Dreitzler all of Raleigh and Jake William Joyner of Wilson; his great-grandchildren, Gavin Johnson and Kathryn “Kate” Johnson, both of Raleigh; his sister, Ida Hayworth of AZ and his sister-in-law, Dot Joyner of Wilson.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Annie Morris Thorne Joyner, his parents, Joseph Clinton and Catherine Amerson Joyner, and his brother, Jesse Joyner.

Flowers are welcome or memorials may be directed to the Sudan Shriners Hospital for Children, 403 East Front Street, New Bern, NC 28560.

Condolences may be directed to www.joyners.net.