Ernest Dewey Joyce, age 94, passed away Wednesday, August 3, 2022. He was born in 1928 to Charlie & Nancy Smith Joyce in Jewell Ridge, Virginia, one of eight siblings. Ernest lived through the Great Depression. He graduated from Richlands High School in 1947. After which he enjoyed a number jobs with the Jewell Ridge Coal Corporation including loading coal, store clerk, butcher, and grocery department manager. In 1950, he was drafted into the US Army, serving two years during the Korean War. After his years in the army, Ernest resumed work with Jewell Ridge Coal Company where he worked as a payroll clerk until 1954. That is when he came to Oak Ridge and began working at Y-12 as an accountant. He also worked for Rust Engineering and the H.K. Ferguson Company until he retired in 1992 with 37 years of government service. Ernie would be the first to tell you that the most important thing that ever happened to him was in 1956 when he gave his life to God at Pleasant Hill Baptist Church at Eaton’s Crossroads in Lenoir City. Ernie has been a member of Free Will Baptist Church of Oak Ridge since 1962. The second most important thing was when he met and married Helen Sewell in 1969, who he saw as the girl of his dreams and the one he had been looking for all of his life. Since then, God has wonderfully blessed him and let him see many wonderful things only God could do, especially since marrying Helen. Ernie was preceded in death by his parents, Charlie & Nancy Joyce; siblings, Ruth, Dorothy, Hubert, Anne, Leona, Mattie, and Charles “Chuck” Joyce. Survivors include his loving wife, Helen Sewell Joyce; brother, Maze Joyce; cousin, Darrell Conaster; sister-in-law, Lorene Fugate; brothers-in-law, Perry & Claude Sewell; several nieces & nephews; and many other friends & relatives. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Salvation Army at https://give.salvationarmyusa.org/give or 1-800-SAL-ARMY. The family will receive friends 10-12 pm Monday, August 8, 2022, at Free Will Baptist Church of Oak Ridge. Funeral services will be held at 12 pm with Rev. David Cox officiating. Interment will follow at 1 pm at Oak Ridge Memorial Park. An online guestbook is available at weatherfordmortuary.com.