Joyce Sharon Mozingo Hord

Joyce Sharon Mozingo Hord, 74, passed away peacefully from natural causes on December 29, 2023. She was surrounded by family at the time of her passing at Silsbee Oaks Health Care in Silsbee, Texas.

Joyce was born in Smithfield, North Carolina, on September 8, 1949, to Edward Lee Mozingo, a carpenter, and Dessie Ruth Holland Mozingo, a homemaker and nurse. Joyce graduated from Southern Wayne High School in Dudley, North Carolina, in 1967, where she excelled in math and science and enjoyed helping out in the chemistry lab as a student assistant. She received a full scholarship to attend Eastern Carolina University as a math major. At ECU, she met and married her husband, James Hord. After graduating college, Joyce worked as a math teacher while James attended law school at the University of Tennessee. In 1980, Joyce and James moved to Charlotte, where she began her 28-year career as a computer programmer with Duke Energy.

As a mother, Joyce was warm, loving, and inspiring. She was her children’s greatest cheerleader and encouraged and supported them in their every endeavor. Joyce was an enthusiast of Sudoku and logic puzzles, but she also enjoyed writing poetry, sketching pictures, and reading novels. She never needed a bookmark. Once she started a novel, she would read through to the end, even if it meant staying up all hours. A spontaneous soul, Joyce often suggested spur-of-the-moment trips to Myrtle Beach, the Blue Ridge Mountains, or Paris, France. She donated monthly to the ASPCA and was never without a cherished pet – either a cat or a dog, or both – throughout her life. Her grandson, Gabe, was the apple of her eye. She loved listening to him play saxophone and piano, especially “Ode to Joy,” which he learned for her.

Joyce was preceded in death by her husband, James Clarence Hord, on April 5, 2021, and their son, Michael Wayne Hord, on October 1, 2002. In addition, she was preceded in death by her brother, Edward Mozingo, Jr. Joyce is survived by her daughter, Sharon Hord Forret (Jeff); grandson, Gabe Forret; her twin brother, James Mozingo (Marlene); and sisters, Edith Miers and Katherine Mozingo; as well as many beloved nieces and nephews.

An interment service will be held on Monday, March 25, 2024,  at Sunset Memory Gardens in Charlotte, North Carolina. A reception to celebrate Joyce’s life will follow. Her cremation arrangements were handled through Broussard’s Crematorium under the direction of Broussard’s, 1605 North Major Drive, Beaumont.

The family requests that those who wish to express sympathy consider donating in Joyce’s honor to the ASPCA.