Patricia Joyce Woods, age 74, passed away at her home in Columbia surrounded by her beloved family on Saturday, July 6, 2024. She had been fighting several illnesses for many years. She was admitted to the hospital in ICU on June 17, 2024, and was treated for two weeks. One of her final wishes was to go home; so, the family took her home on Friday, July 5, 2024, and she later succumbed to the illness.

Joyce was born on February 11, 1950, in Columbia, SC to Woodrow and Mary Elizabeth Branham. She has three siblings, Ann, Bennie and Larry. In 1964, she met the love of her life, Bo Woods, at Fairfield Middle School in Eau Claire. The two dated through middle and high school until Bo enlisted in the Navy.  In 1968, he was deployed to Vietnam and before he left the states, the two married. 

After returning from Vietnam, the couple was stationed in and spent two years in San Diego, California. Joyce often said those years were some of the best and happiest in her life. However, South Carolina was home, and the two moved back to where it all began for them and started a family. Their son Trey, was born in 1972, and a daughter, Denise, followed in 1975. 

Joyce’s family was her life, pride and joy, and she spent the rest of her years caring for them and their home. She spent many years chauffeuring her children and grandchildren to and from practices and school events. She also welcomed all of their friends into their home and loved them as her own. She also worked alongside Bo in the family business, Woods Body Shop. 

During these years, Joyce and Bo spent much of their time with close friends Don & Janet Boggs, and Rocky & Holly Smith. All three couples have been friends since middle school, and that friendship still goes strong today. Joyce referred to them as her “chosen” family. The three families spent time together participating in little league, vacationing, traveling, riding their motorcycles, and just enjoyed being together. 

Her family, friends, business customers and vendors regard her as a little feisty, and one of the kindest, most loving women they had ever met. Joyce will be missed but she will never be forgotten. 

Joyce is preceded by her parents, Woodrow and Mary Elizabeth Branham of Columbia, and her brother, Bennie Branham of Hilton Head. She is survived by her beloved husband, Wilton “Bo” Woods of Columbia, her son and his wife, Trey and Kelly Woods of Columbia, her daughter and her husband, Denise and Brian Sawin of West Columbia. Joyce is also survived by her grandson and his wife, Chase and Erika Woods of Lexington, her granddaughter and her husband, Patricia and Steven Robinson of Greenwood, her grandson Sam Myers of West Columbia, and two great-granddaughters, Brooke and Natalie Woods of Lexington. She is also survived by her sister and her husband, Ann and Ervin Whitten of Swansea, and her brother and his wife, Larry and Ann Branham of Blythewood. 

Joyce will be carried to her final resting place by the men of her family, Bo Woods, Trey Woods, Chase Woods, Brian Sawin, Sam Myers, and Larry Branham.

The family will receive friends on Thursday, July 11, 2024, from 1:00pm to 2:00pm at St. Johns Church, 1700 Houston St., Columbia, SC, 29203. A short service, officiated by Russell Whittle, will follow at 2:00pm in the church sanctuary, and the burial will immediately follow at Woodridge Memorial Park, 138 Corley Mill Rd., Lexington, SC, 29072.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you make donations in her memory to Mission Lexington, www.missionlexingtonsc.org, a charity that she supported, or to St. John Church, address listed above.