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Joyangel Votion nee Longoria was born in Santa Clara County at the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose, CA on August 3, 1967 to Rosalind "Rosie" Kerouac nee Longoria and Joe Navarro. Before she was a year old, Rosie and Joy moved back to San Antonio, TX. Joy spent the majority of her life in San Antonio, TX with her family. She had brief moments of living in Maryland (near Washington College), New Mexico (near the White Sands National Park), and other parts of Texas (such as McKinney and Tyler). Although Joy had many secular jobs, she first began as an Usher for Santikos at Ingram Park Mall and ended as a Fragrances and Perfumes Brand Representative for Dillard's at North Star Mall. She was a grade school teacher for several years, which was her most enjoyable job. She married Leonard Ray Votion on June 11, 1994 (Joy was devasted when Leonard separated from her and their children in mid-2014 - they divorced on December 16, 2015). During their marriage, they had four handsome boys whom she loved very much: Christian James born November 3, 1996. Alec Matthew born July 24, 1999. Brandon Jacob born March 18, 2004. Andre Luke born May 15, 2006. She was a wonderful mother to her boys and would home school them through several years. She was also a sporty mother and encouraged her sons to be athletic as well. She supported them when they joined teams at the public schools they attended and would run 5Ks with them when she could. She also ran a full marathon in 2008. She was able to travel with the boys on occasion. They mainly traveled to Corpus Christi and Washington DC. Her goal was to travel with each boy individually to a location of their choice when they graduated (within the Nation). She was able to fulfill those goals with Christian to San Francisco, CA and Alec to Denver, CO. She had on the map to travel with Brandon to Massachusetts and Andre to Hawaii. Joy was a victim of cancer. She had a double mastectomy in 2013 followed by chemo-therapy. In 2015, she learned the cancer had already spread and fully covered her bones. She began several therapies immediately, unfortunately the cancer kept growing and spreading. She was tough, fought this as hard as she could for many years, handling it very well and even keeping a secular job through the majority of her fight. In June 2020, the cancer became more aggressive slowing her down until she succumbed to it on August 11, 2020. Joy is survived by all four of her sons: Christian and his fiancée Annie, Alec, Brandon, & Andre, her mother Rosalind and her husband Vern, her sister Starrina and her husband Jeffrey, her aunt Ruby and her children (Henry and his wife Anna [children: Gabriella, Illiana, and Henry's first daughter Natalie], Rubina, Raymond and his wife Minnie [children: Jonas, 'little' Starrina), her Uncle Henry [his daughter: Noemi], many cousins. Joy was very grateful to her friend Debbie. The family would like to express their sincere gratitude to Debbie for assisting with her many appointments and emergency room visits over a period of time - along with occasional food delivery and groceries. They also want to express thanks to her husband Tim for sacrificing time with his wife and for his kindness to the family. Among Joy's other close friends are Holly, Valerie, Kristi, and Joy (a.k.a. Southside Joy). The family expresses many thanks to other thoughtful and generous ones for their gifts of food delivery. FOND MEMORIES/THOUGHTS FROM THE FAMILY The family was asked to briefly think about something they admired or were fond of about Joy - they were asked to not think too hard but to write the first thing that came to mind - here are their thoughts/memories: "When she was born I saw her and I thanked God for a beautiful baby girl - my angel, my joy." - "Rosie" (Mom) "Her wit, remembering all things as always. Still telling the boys what to do as always." - Vern (Step-Father) "I remember how excited she would get while training for her first 5K. We were so proud of her. I remember me and Alec running alongside her to the finish line of that 5K." - Christian (Son) "My 18th birthday vacation trip to Colorado, where we were happy and felt like everything was fine." - Alec (Son) "I remember when I would come back from my football games, when Mom would pick me up, she would always ask how I did because she was always working and couldn't see my games. So I would tell her how I did and the smile on her face & the look of pride on her face made me smile. Whether I did good or played like crap, she would always tell me how proud she was of me. I would just look at her and think about all the things she's been through, it didn't slow her down for a second. She inspired me to become stronger, I wanted to be as strong as her and I hope one day I will be." - Brandon (Son) "Mom was very tough through all of this - the divorce, the cancer, and her work. Mom still paid for our food while dealing with cancer and she is the toughest Mom I've ever known, and she will always be in my heart and my mind. Mom tried to make it to all of our graduations and see all of us get married. Mom is the best, strongest, and most caring Mom ever." - Andre (Son) "One of my favorite things about Joy was her goofiness while we were growing up. She would try to add to a joke someone told or make one up herself (none of which were funny or good :-) ) - immediately after stating something, she would have this goofy laugh at what she said - making herself laugh, and it was never a short little laugh - she went on for minutes this way. It would make me smile or laugh with her. Those are some of my fondest memories." - Starr (Sister) "I admire Joy's strength. She's tough, she went through a whole lot and never complained or felt sorry for herself." - Jeff (Brother-In-Law) "Quirky sense of humor. Everytime we heard a silly joke - we named it a 'Joy joke' - she would think it's hysterical and that would make us laugh because she was laughing." - Ruby (Aunt)

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Joyangel Votion

August 3, 1967 - August 11, 2020