Remarkable Woman Joyce Williams is uncovering, preserving East Texas history

MINEOLA, Texas (KETK) – She has a passion for historical preservation, dedication to education, and commitment to making a difference in East Texas.

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“I relish any time that someone wants to talk about Iron Horse Square, The Museum, or the bike trails or anything like that,” Joyce Williams said.

To Joyce Williams, simply put, her accomplishments are a result of the collective efforts of others.

“I’m willing to talk with them and tell them about what [we] have done here,” Williams said.

From her early days as an educator to her retirement years, Joyce Williams has consistently shown a commitment to making a difference in her community.

“I began my career as a teacher/coach at Mount Vernon. I taught there for three years and then moved to Cayuga ISD where I became a head coach. I had the privilege of winning state twice in track with my girls and then, of course, state in basketball,” Williams said. “But then when we moved to Mineola, I taught at Mineola for 25 years.”

With an undying passion for helping others develop a deeper appreciation for the world around them, she quickly became a well-respected leader. It was during that time she explored her passion for preserving history.

“There’s a cemetery out west of town that’s called Ford Green Cemetery, and it was just abandoned. You couldn’t even tell there was a cemetery there. One of my students told me one day after school, he said, we were out playing. These are middle school students tripping over tombstones,” Williams said.

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Along with her students, they discovered abandoned and crumbling cemeteries. They spent countless weekends bringing them back to their former glory.

“I was encouraging the kids to come out on Mother’s Day and do that. Some one of those kids had already been out and it was a brother and a sister, and they had bought fresh yellow roses and on every grave of a child, father, mother, everyone, there was a fresh yellow rose,” Williams said. “I’ll never forget that.”

Now in retirement, Williams’ dedication extends to her involvement with the “Museum on Main Street.”

“We started in 2015 and a landmark commission meeting and I just blurted out, ‘Why don’t we have a railroad park?’ And I thought, Well, where did that come from? We were talking about a project and the rest of the Landmark Commission said, ‘okay!'” Williams said.

Her love for nature and the outdoors also led her to play a crucial role in the creation of the Mineola Nature Preserve through “Lake Country Trails.”

“The bike trails kind of morphed in because we saw railroad things, you know, on the bike trails. So, we kind of morphed into the railroad park. So that’s more how it started, maybe back in the early 2000s,” said Williams.

The discovery of abandoned railroads from the past led Joyce Williams to spearhead an immersive experience for families with the Iron Horse Square.

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“The Meredith Foundation gave us $125,000 to start the railroad park. And so, they bought us the little train, which is an engine and three cars, and the tracks and we got the people together and the men of the community built a little track,” Williams said.

Joyce Williams has been recording history for decades, compiling data and organizing visuals for the public.

“What we did do recently is we put in model trains and the kids can punch a button or the adults can go over there and punch a button and the model trains will run. But these are your special model trains. This is the International and Great Northern, the Katy, the Missouri, Kansas, Texas, and the T and P, the Texas and Pacific trains that are in there and those are the three that were in Mineola,” Williams said.

In the midst of it all, Joyce Williams faced a personal battle with breast cancer in 2004.

“I’m a two-time cancer survivor and it’s an inherited gene from the mother. I pretty well took things into my own hands and went up to Chicago to Cancer Treatment Centers of America and did their chemo,” Williams said. “But, I also did their Chinese medicine, their homeopath medicine, their naturopath medicine, nutrition, everything.”

Joyce Williams found peace and inspiration in her unwavering faith in God. She now stands as a beacon of hope and inspiration for others. With love and devotion for her students, many still keep in touch to this day.

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“Oh, they love it. I love it! And I see a lot of my former students, they bring their little children to ride the train and the children just love it,” Williams said.

Above all, Joyce Williams is a selfless individual who tirelessly invests in the lives of others. Always giving credit to her fighting spirit, lessons, and guidance in life to God.

“I love to read Proverbs because that gives you the best advice in the world and it’s always looking to the Lord, have patience and have understanding and love people and they’ll love you back,” said Williams.

Williams’ legacy of historical enthusiasm and selfless service to her community is what makes her a truly remarkable woman.

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