Miriam Joyce Scott Frederick went home to her Heavenly Father on Saturday, Feb. 20, 2021, at 4:45 p.m. surrounded by her loving family in their home in Vicksburg.

Joyce was born on Sept. 8, 1958, in Port Arthur, Texas. She graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School as a member of the Bicentennial Class of 1976. She was a proud member of a variety of organizations during her years in public education including the famous Thomas Jefferson Red Hussar Drum and Bugle Corps. She and her family were active members of Trinity Baptist Church.

As one of the two older sisters in a family of six children, and having a father who worked as a merchant marine spending most of his time at sea supporting the family, Joyce, and her older sister, Irene, often stepped into the role as a second mother and helped raise their four younger brothers. Her relationships with her siblings during those challenging times helped mold each of them into who they are today, and she will live eternally in their hearts.

After graduating from high school, Joyce went on to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in Home Economics with a minor in Journalism from Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas.

Her career eventually took her away from her hometown and to a job in her father’s homeland of the Cayman Islands where she met and married William “Bill” Frederick, formerly of Miramar, Fla. in 1989.

Bill’s career led them back to the United States and southern Florida where he worked as a meteorologist for the National Hurricane Center before accepting the meteorologist job in 2001 at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Vicksburg.

Led by their strong Christian faith, Joyce and Bill served as foster parents and adopted five children during their years in Florida and Mississippi. Their faith also led them through successful prison and street ministry programs and the founding of Living By The Word Fellowship Church in Vicksburg where they served as pastors.

Joyce’s personal relationship with Christ served as an inspiration to everyone she knew and many of the people she met along her life’s journey. She was always excited to share her personal testimony with others and always found the time to pray with anyone who was going through a difficult time. It was her personal relationship with Christ and the love and prayers of so many who knew her that helped her through the many health challenges she faced in her final days. Her fight for life inspired so many and her shining spirit will live on in the hearts of those who were so privileged to know her.

Preceding Joyce in death are her father, Lindsay A. Scott Sr. and her mother, Mary Gertrude Walton Scott.

To carry on her legacy and memory, she leaves her husband, Bill Frederick; two sons, William Jr. and Stephen; three daughters, Marie, Mary and Elizabeth; two sisters, Irene Scott of Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands and Linda Hanson of Dunedin, Fla.; and four brothers, Melbourne Scott of Round Top, Texas, Victor Scott of Taylor Lake Village, Texas, Lindsay Scott of Williamsburg, Va. and Ward Scott of Cayman Brac, Cayman Islands.

In lieu of flowers, Joyce’s heart was always for orphans and foster children, so please consider honoring Joyce by donating to

Mississippi Families For Kids, 407 Briarwood Dr. Suite 209, Jackson, MS 39206.