Joyce Barbara Kratz

Joyce Barbara (Steinmetz) Kratz passed away on July 11, 2022, in Charleston, South Carolina at the age of 95 years old. Joyce was born in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, on October 21, 1926, the daughter of Alice and Charles Howard Steinmetz. She was raised as a Mennonite on dairy farms in Pennsylvania. She graduated from Norristown High School in 1944, and married Lawrence T. Kratz, Jr. in 1946 after he returned from World War II.  They were married for 57 years until Larry passed away in 2003.

Joyce and Larry moved several times during their life together, and lived in the Norristown, Pennsylvania area; Atlanta, Georgia; Melbourne, Florida; and Houston, Texas. In each place they lived, they found a church home. Churches attended by Joyce were: All Saints’ Episcopal (Norristown), Dunwoody UMC (Atlanta), St. Mark’s UMC (Melbourne), Bear Creek UMC and Terrace UMC (Houston), Hope UMC (Denver), and Epworth UMC (Charleston).

Joyce and Larry enjoyed travelling, and in 1967 bought a travel trailer with which they travelled the entire Atlantic seaboard with their children. After retirement, they took trips to several countries in Europe. At the age of 86, Joyce decided Houston was too hot to enjoy gardening and moved to Denver where her daughter Lisa and her family lived. When Lisa and her family moved to James Island, South Carolina, Joyce accompanied them, where she enjoyed the beautiful coastal scenery, historic charm, and delicious seafood of Charleston.

As a child of the Depression, Joyce learned at a young age to be thrifty. She never wasted anything, even into her later years, she embraced the concepts of reuse and repurpose. She loved to garden and moved around plants and large bags of mulch well into her 80’s. She studied for and achieved the status of Texas Master Gardener, a major accomplishment which required classes and volunteer time. Joyce enjoyed baking, and her specialty was shoo-fly pie, a Pennsylvania Dutch breakfast treat. A loving mother and grandmother, the girls of the family spent many hours in the kitchen with her, baking and decorating cookies and making Christmas ornaments under her guidance.

Joyce leaves behind three children, Lisa Fairey, Todd Kratz, and Becky Carson, one son-in-law, JD Fairey, and six grandchildren, Elizabeth Fairey, John Fairey, Mary Alice Fairey, Callan Carson, Calder Carson, and Kenna Carson. She was predeceased by her brother, Larry Steinmetz, and is survived by her sister, Dawn Red, and by many nieces and nephews.

Joyce will be interred with her husband Larry (Lawrence) at the Houston National (Veterans) Cemetery in Houston, Texas. Anyone desiring to provide a gift of Love and Sympathy is asked to make a donation to her final United Methodist Church home, Epworth United Methodist Church, on James Island, South Carolina: 1540 Camp Road, Charleston, S.C. 29412 (Phone: 843-795-3722).

Arrangements have been entrusted to McAlister-Smith Funeral Home & Cremation, 347 Folly Road, Charleston, SC 29412 (843-722-8371).