Joyce Patricia Smith

09/10/1956 - 09/06/2021

Obituary For Joyce Patricia Smith

Joyce “Momma Jay” Smith passed away suddenly on the early morning of Labor Day, September 6, 2021. She was 64. Just four days shy of her 65th birthday. While her death is untimely. It seems fitting that this woman who ran a 38-year-old clothing business and single-handedly raised four children, made her final respite on a federal holiday designed to honor the American worker.

Momma Jay was not one of the idle hands. Besides caring for her family, she was also the hub of the wheel in her community. There wasn’t a stranger she didn’t know or anyone around her that would go without. Particularly when it came to anything involving fabric and food. An avid cook, it wasn’t uncommon to leave Momma Jay’s home with a southern homecooked meal and new custom clothing. Focusing on hard-to-find sizes she designed uniforms for healthcare workers, prom dresses, bridal gowns, menswear, tailored suits, and even embroidered and crocheted quilts. Frankly, there wasn’t anything Momma Jay couldn’t do with a needle or a sewing machine.

Born and raised in Saginaw, Michigan, Momma Jay was the second among four children by Onie Julius and Ora Dell Smith of Kosciusko, Mississippi. Joyce ‘Momma Jay’ was second to the eldest and was born September 10, 1957. Her parents, a part of the Great Black Migration to the North also had Delbert Smith of Muskegon, Michigan, their oldest, Carolyn Smith-Alvarado of Newark, Delaware, their third child, and Ellanor Smith of Seattle, Washington (Deceased), the youngest.

At an early age, Momma Jay was already an entrepreneur. Graduating from Buena Vista High School of Saginaw, Michigan in 1975, she’d created a career with a handy down sewing machine and a desire to dress those who were hard to fit. Studying fashion design at the area’s local community college she left Saginaw after the death of her parents and opted to move her business closer to family in Mississippi. Momma Jay set her shop in her beloved Aunt Jessie Tucker’s Kosciusko home and later expanded her business to Jackson, Mississippi.

A nurturing mother, she loved beyond her own children, Jessella Smith, her twin children, Mariah and Michael Carter and Domonique Carter. All with careers and education that span from the food industry, culinary arts, cosmetology, and the medical field. Like their mother, her offspring represent the creative spirit and service-mindedness she exemplified. The grandmother of eight adorable grandchildren; Joi Carter, Jocelyn Jones, Xymeria Drone-Carter, Ava Smith, Lilly Carter, Steven Jones, SaVaughn Jones, and Michael Carter, Jr. It is no wonder she was known as Joyce Momma Jay Smith. It would seem her ability to care for others was as big as the name she made for herself.