By Dallas Woodhouse
Pittsboro, NC – Today, Saturday, October 3, 2026, I had the honor of serving as an honorary pallbearer and delivering a tribute to my dear friend Joyce Cotten during her 11:00 a.m. funeral service at Mount Gilead Baptist Church in Pittsboro, North Carolina.
For those who could not be with us, I’m sharing an adaptation of my remarks.
I began by holding up a copy of the North Carolina Republican Party’s Plan of Organization.
When Joyce recruited me to become executive director of the state party in 2015, she insisted that I understand every line—every word—of our organizing rules and procedures.
And that was before I even interviewed for the job.
Over meetings at her house and quite a few phone calls, she drilled me, corrected me, and tested me until I was ready.
A proud Campbell graduate, Joyce spent her career teaching vocational education, business, and office occupations—from Pittsboro and Northwood to Lee Senior High School. When I became her student, she had not lost a step.
So I told her:
“Now, Joyce, I have been through every line in this thing. And nowhere does it say you could leave us too soon.
“If we had voted on that question, we would have defeated the measure unanimously.
“Joyce, the motion fails!”
But we don’t get a vote.
And that is the hard part of saying goodbye.
Joyce was my dear friend for more than two decades. When I first became a political advocate and activist, she helped me learn the ropes in her beloved Chatham County. Years later, when our party needed leadership, she encouraged me to step forward.
I will miss our long phone conversations, my visits to her home, and that smile.
But I believe Joyce still has one final campaign in her: the lessons she left us, and what we choose to do with them.
FIRST: SERVE OTHERS.
Her family, her church, her students, her county, and her party—Joyce gave them her time without waiting to be asked or seeking credit. She was a faithful member of Mount Gilead, and her greatest joy was spending time with Kim and Harvey on their farm.
Galatians 5:13 tells us, “By love serve one another.”
That was Joyce. Sixteen years on the Chatham County Board of Elections. More than fifty years of Republican Party service. And years of painstaking work leading our convention’s Credentials Committee.
She understood that somebody had to do it, and do it right.
SECOND: INVEST IN YOUNG PEOPLE.
When I needed young field staff at Americans for Prosperity, Joyce introduced me to Bethany Hudson.
I hired Bethany, and she did great work. But Joyce kept checking on her. When a placement in Charlotte wasn’t quite working, Joyce said, “Send her back to Wilmington. She went to school there. She knows people there.”
We did. And it worked.
Joyce didn’t simply open a door. She stayed invested in what happened afterward.
She believed every student needed a great education. Not every student needed college, but every student needed skills to build a life.
Her teaching earned statewide recognition in 1991. But perhaps the finest tribute is that students she taught thirty and forty years ago still remember her investment in them.
THIRD: UNDERSTAND ADDITION.
Joyce knew you grow a church, a community, or a political party by bringing people in.
I love our party, but we aren’t always as welcoming as we should be. Sometimes newcomers meet suspicion.
With Joyce, they found a welcome. She guided them, gave them responsibility, and helped them belong.
She believed in the people of North Carolina. That was one reason she was a Republican. She trusted people to solve problems through faith, family, and community.
And she lived that belief.
Joyce was also an avid quilter, carrying on her mother’s sewing gifts. In a quilt, she brought different pieces together to create something beautiful for someone else.
She did much the same in life: bringing people, ideas, organization, and passion together to make something that benefited others.
FOURTH: SET DIFFERENCES ASIDE AND KEEP LOOKING FORWARD.
Joyce fought for her candidates. But after the primary, she believed everyone should come together.
Today’s opponent could be tomorrow’s ally.
She believed what united us was stronger than what divided us. There was always another campaign, church function, family gathering, or person to help.
She believed in goodness, decency, honesty—and, on occasion, a good cigarette.
That was our Joyce.
FIFTH: WHEN THE GOING GOT ROUGH, JOYCE GOT TOUGH.
Our time in the party wasn’t all candy and rainbows. We faced challenges we never anticipated. Joyce was there with leadership and guidance.
If she stood with you when times were good, she stood with you when they got tough.
She didn’t abandon you because somebody criticized you or because you made a mistake.
She might correct you. Believe me, she would correct you.
But she stayed beside you.
Proverbs 17:17 says, “A friend loveth at all times.”
Once Joyce was your friend, she was your friend for life.
Joyce lived the principles of her faith through her daily deeds and actions. When someone wronged her, she believed in forgiveness. She believed in second chances.
I experienced that grace myself, and I saw her extend it to many others. As God teaches us, she offered grace. When people made mistakes, fell, or struggled, she helped them find their way back. She believed redemption was possible, and she helped people work toward it.
That may be her defining legacy: the grace she extended, and the people she helped begin again.
And through it all, Joyce understood the power of a smile and laughter. She could find something good when you struggled to see it. She could put a smile on your face and laughter back in your heart.
Serve others. Invest in young people. Welcome newcomers. Set differences aside. Stand by your friends. Offer forgiveness and grace. And keep your sense of humor.
That is Joyce’s final campaign. We carry it forward.
And, as her family reminded us, she would have one more instruction:
“GO VOTE!”
I closed my tribute in a way I thought Joyce would appreciate—by assuming the chair of our “memorial convention” and placing a resolution before the congregation:
IT IS HEREBY RESOLVED:
Joyce, we love you. We miss you. And we will never forget you.
You were not just marking time. You were making a difference—investing in people, changing hearts, changing minds, and changing lives.
We commit to remembering and following the principles you taught through your deeds and actions.
You shall live on in the people you touched.
As the welcoming arms of Jesus receive you into His kingdom, may you rest in peace and hear the words of Matthew 25:21:
“Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”
It is hereby resolved.
All in favor, say “Aye.”
The motion passes.
And folks, be good to each other—and get right with the Lord.
Because the Pearly Gates Credentials Committee just got a little tougher—and a lot more organized.
In memory of Joyce Jones Cotten
November 8, 1942 – September 28, 2026