Funeral services for Joy Dean Burt Payson, age 66, of Lamesa, Texas were held at First Baptist Church of Lamesa on Saturday, December 28, 2024, at 2:00 p.m., the Rev. Jim Medley presiding, with the assistance of Gonzales Funeral Home. The burial committal followed to the Dawson County Cemetery.

Joy Dean Payson, teacher at Lamesa High School, died at 4:55 a.m., Saturday, December 21, 2024, at Covenant Medical Center Hospital in Lubbock, Texas. She had a short fight with colon and pancreatic cancer.

Joy was born June 7, 1958, in Fort Worth, Texas. to Annie May Burt and F. Richard Burt. She attended Alief Hastings High School in Houston, and graduated from Texas Tech University with a Batchelor’s Degree in Education in 1982 and a Master’s Degree in Special Education in 2001.

She married Steven Payson on May 17, 1986. They loved life together and especially each other. She had a son, Erik Payson, born on July 26, 1988, and a daughter, Disa Joy Payson, born on July 26, 1990, who died on August 1, 1990. She was also preceded in death by her parents and her aunt, Sarah Lou Henley.

Joy loved to sing, talk, teach, and laugh. She hiked the Grand Canyon to the bottom six times, climbed Pike’s Peak, rode 100 km in the Hotter than Hell bicycle ride. She visited 40 countries. Beginning with Laurus Schluep in 2003, she and Steven hosted 43 different Foreign Exchange Students, two of whom were present during her last day.

She was a pastor’s wife at Lenorah Baptist Church in Martin County from 1990 to 1999. She and Steven went to Belize and Patzcuaro Mexico as Southern Baptist missionaries during Spring Breaks. She always admired her aunt’s service as a missionary in Nigeria. In 2006 she and Steven went to the Baptist Theological Seminary of Malawi in Lilongwe Malawi, Central Africa to teach pastoral students and their wives. Churches and children were named after her. They returned in 2007, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2024. She loved the people of Malawi, supporting women’s literacy and crafts programs as well as Bible distribution. At One church training conference in Ulongwe Malawi in July she reached 95 women from 21different churches with lessons from the Baptist Faith in Message.

Joy lived up to her name. It is sad that she had to leave us during the Season of Joy. She loved all things Christmas and saw her last Christmas tree in her house on December 19.

She is survived by her brother Keith Burt of Lubbock, Texas, brother Timothy Burt of Richardson, Texas and her sister Sarah Kelly of Phoenix, Arizona. Her husband and her son live and work in Lamesa, Texas. She had 3 nieces and 2 nephews.

She was saved by Jesus when she was 8. She lived her faith. She sang it, taught it and she died in it. She would tell you to get a colonoscopy and remember that God is good all the time. There is a purpose for every life lived in Christ. Make a difference like she did.

Those who want to continue her work in Malawi can donate money to the First Baptist Church of Lamesa, Texas and designate “Malawi” mission fund. Books will be printed, Bibles distributed, sewing machines will be bought to train women, and other areas to assist the women and the pastors of the central African country of Malawi, the 4th poorest country in the world.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/277646676/joy_dean-payson