A community ambassador—and proud of it!

Joyce Barrington is Marlow—through-and-through.
“I have lived in the Marlow area most of my life, and I wouldn’t live anywhere else,” she attested recently.
Joyce Laverne White was born east of town in the Sand Hill community on December 22, 1931, the second of Cecil and Vera White’s seven children.
She attended Sand Hill and Gatlin Schools through eighth grade, then transferred to Marlow and graduated in 1950 from Marlow High.
“Growing up on a farm, my brothers, sisters and I always had to work hard, helping with hoeing, harvesting, gardening, canning and whatever else had to be done,” she said.
“One year, my brother Wayne swung his hoe down and hit the thumb on my left hand, splitting it open. Needless to say, I got out of hoeing that year,” she quipped, adding, “’Course, there were lots of other things I could do in the house.”
“We never had a lot,” she reminisced. “My mother made all our clothes, and sometimes they were made of printed feed sacks. We always had a good home and plenty to eat, as we raised a big garden every year.
“Our dad was very strict,” she continued, “and when he told us to do something, we knew he meant it. He always told us girls that if he ever caught us smoking, he would whip us, he didn’t care how old we were.”
They believed him, she said, but “June and I tried it. I guess we thought it looked ‘cool’ to drag Main Street with a cigarette.”
After high school, Joyce hired on with Southwestern Bell and worked out of the Duncan office during most of her 30 years with the company, retiring in 1985.
Retirement doesn’t “stick” to some folks. In the late ’80s, she went to work in the office of Professional Home Care in Duncan and stayed eight or nine years. Later, she did home care on weekends for almost a year, finally retiring altogether in 2004.
Joyce married Lonnie Barrington, Jr., on April 7, 1956.
Their older son, Ricky, is married to the former Kim Sullivan of Sterling. They have been married 24 years and have two children, Randi Lyn and Jared.
Keith, the younger son, married the former Lorie Phillips of Marlow. They’ve been married almost 25 years and have three children, Casie (Mrs. Lee) Dorman of Rush Springs; and Keenan (wife Ashley), and Zach, both of Marlow. Keith’s children have blessed Joyce with eight great-grandchildren.
“And I love them all dearly,” Joyce said. “I have many fond memories of my boys’ and grandchildren’s growing-up years, and I’m now working on making memories for my great-grandkids.”
“I always said, when my boys were growing up, that I would get along with my daughters-in-law if I had to bite the end of my tongue off,” she recalled.
Her tongue is intact.
“I got two of the most precious daughters-in-law anyone could ever have. I couldn’t love them more if they were my own,” she testified.
When her boys were young, she said, she decided she wanted to learn to roller skate. So she got a pair of metal skates, the kind that adjust with a key and fit over your shoes, and went out to the shop building. Determined to teach herself and surprise everyone, she lined up some chairs for support and took off.
“I was the one who got the surprise when I fell on the concrete floor and broke my wrist,” she said. “That ended my skating.”
Joyce lost her husband Lonnie in February 1993 after 37 years of marriage.
In 1996, her friend Teenie Scott tried a little matchmaking, urging Joyce to become better-acquainted with a local widower named Smut Smith.
Always practical and sometimes a little blunt, Joyce responded in a not-too-surprising way.
“I told her ‘No, I would not call him, but he could call me if he wanted to,’” she said. “Well, he did, and we became very close friends. Neither one of us wanted to marry, but we remained very close ’til his death in 2003.”
Several months after Smut’s passing, Teenie decided to swing into action again. She and a mutual friend, the late Sonny Terrell, introduced Joyce to another local widower, a man who is indisputably one of the community’s truly nicest gentlemen—Granville Robinson.
“They got tired of me moping and grieving, and said it was time for me to get on with my life,” Joyce remembered.
She flat-out stated she didn’t want to meet anyone, but the two conspirators proceeded with their plans, anyway, and made arrangements for the two—Joyce and Granville—to meet at the local senior center.
“The night we met, neither one of us was looking (for companionship),” Joyce noted. But. . .“when he walked in the building, there was just something about him,” she recalled. “When he shook hands with me, I tingled from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet.”
This was late 2003; and after a brief courtship, the two were married on April 20, 2004, and Granville moved into Joyce’s home on Rose Road.
“We both tell everybody that the good Lord, with the help of our good friends, put us together,” Joyce said. Although she loves Granville deeply, she has chosen to retain the Barrington name.
Apparently, Joyce is a firm believer in the philosophy “It’s better to wear out than to rust out.”
“Granville and I stay busy,” she noted.  “Sometimes, I wonder if I am going to meet myself coming back.”
Since they were active in different churches at the time of their marriage, they settled on a compromise. Both attend Granville’s church, Bray Baptist, on Sunday mornings and Joyce’s, Eastside Baptist, on Sunday and Wednesday evenings.
The couple is in charge of services conducted by Eastside at four area nursing homes every month.
“We enjoy doing these services, where we do singing and have a very good group of people from Eastside and Bray who come and help us,” Joyce indicated.
Another of her responsibilities is assisting with Eastside’s church bulletin.
Joyce also plays an integral role in enriching the lives of the community’s senior citizens. She is on the Marlow Senior Citizens Council, currently serving as secretary/treasurer.
“This keeps me busy,” she said. “I spend several hours a month buying supplies, preparing the secretary/treasurer’s reports, and I prepare a monthly calendar of events.”
On Monday mornings, Joyce opens the center’s doors at eight and usually stays until the noon hour. And whenever possible, she and Granville attend the Tuesday jam sessions, the Thursday musicals, and the Friday dances at the center.
Believe it or not, Joyce belongs to the MOB. No, not that one—the Marlow Outlaw Babes chapter of the Red Hat Society. All six members were in the Class of ’50 and are planning a 60-year class reunion for September.
Cooking is another of Joyce’s passions.
“My mother was a very good cook, and she measured with a pinch, a dab or a handful of this and that,” she said. “I have my own special recipes. I guess the one I’m known for is my fresh apple cake.” Through extensive experimentation, the original recipe has been transformed into her personal formula for scrumptious munching.
“I love to make these and give them to my family and friends, and they love to get them,” she noted. Her homemade chocolate ice cream is unique, too—she uses chocolate milk.
Joyce also designs travel pillows and photo scrapbooks. She has made scrapbooks for her sons and four of her grandchildren, as well as two for the senior center; and she’s in the process of chronicling Eastside’s building project in still another.
She started a diary in 2004. “I think each year I’ll quit, but so far, I’m still keeping it,” she observed.
“I’ve had my share of illnesses through the years, but I believe the worst was when I was diagnosed with breast cancer in April of 1992,” she said.
“I was devastated and could do nothing but cry. My son Ricky came up to me, put his arms around me, and said, ‘Mother, we are going to get through this.’ I then told myself I had to get hold of myself, so I went to my bedroom, closed the door, and the good Lord and I had a good talk,” she recalled.
“I told God I was turning this over to Him, and I was not going to worry about it or cry another tear. I came out of that bedroom a different person. I had six months of chemo, then took a cancer pill for five years.
“I was cancer-free until April 2009,” she continued, “when they found cancer in my other breast. It was the slow-growing kind, and I did not have to have further treatment. God saw me through both mastectomies and right now, I am doing great.
“God has been good to me down through the years. I thank him every day for my health and that He allows me to do what I do, whether it is baking a cake for someone or just giving a stranger a smile and a ‘hello.’
“God has really blessed me and is with me at all times, the good as well as the bad,” she attested.