Joyce Roach

Joyce Roach of Enterprise, AL passed away, Saturday, July 6, 2024 in Enterprise.  She was 90.

Funeral services will be held at 2:00 PM, Sunday, July 14, 2024 at the Chapel of Searcy Funeral Home and Crematory with Dr. Ben Bowden officiating.  Burial will follow in Friendship Baptist Church Cemetery in Geneva, AL with Searcy Funeral Home and Crematory directing.  The family will receive friends at the funeral home from 1:00 PM until service time.  

Joyce was raised in Miami, Florida.  At the age of 12, she fell in love with Jimmy Roach.  Next to Christ, her love for “her Jimmy” defined her life.  They dated all through high school and she married him at the age of 17 in 1951.  They enjoyed 38 years of marriage and even after his early passing he continued to be the love of her life.

Professionally, Joyce taught kindergarten for more than 30 years, a profession that was passed down through several generations.  Christ was central throughout her life.  She was very active in First Baptist Church of Hialeah, FL teaching Sunday school, church training, and choir.  In retirement, Joyce brought Christ to her community by visiting the nursing home, delivering meals to the home-confined, or taking them out to dinner and a movie!

She poured into her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.  Always possessing energy and youthfulness and vitality that defied her age, she was the “fun GG.”  Her diehard Miami sports’ fandom for the Dolphins and the Hurricanes is well known.  She traveled the world with her grandchildren: Italy, Spain, Austria, and Switzerland to name a few.  But wherever she was or whomever she was traveling with, Christ and Jimmy were always right there too.  

Mrs. Roach was preceded in death by her husband, James Albert Roach; daughter, Julie Roach Nitti; and her parents, Joseph Salmon and Eloise Hewett.

Survivors include her daughter, Janet McAliley (Gary), Enterprise, AL; son James Roach (Anita), Sorrento, FL; 7 grandchildren, LeeAnn Kettunen (Will), Nicole Roach, Brianna Turner (Fred), Megan Bradley (Ben), Dahnya Kelly (Ryan), Tia Phillips (Ben) and Anthony Nitti; 11 great-grandchildren; 2 sisters, Dorothy Bender, Lake Worth, FL; Virginia Moseley (Jon), Fernandina Beach, FL; brother, Daniel Salmon, Callahan, FL.