Reese I. “Bunky” Joye was born May 15, 1938, in Bennettsville, S.C., to parents Reese I. Joye and Mildred Odom Joye. In 1961, he received his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of South Carolina, where he was president of his class, elected into Omicron Delta Kappa and a member of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. In 1965, he received his Bachelor of Law from the University of South Carolina School of Law.
After serving as an attorney-negotiator for Boeing Aircraft in Seattle and later as director of contract administration at Fairchild Hiller Aircraft, he returned to S.C. with his family to begin private practice in Charleston.
Trial law became his calling. Joye was a founder of the Public Defender System in Charleston County, founding president of the S.C. Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and a founding member and past dean of the National College for DUI Defense.
Joye was a member of St. Andrews Church in Mt. Pleasant and a former deacon of the Mt. Pleasant Presbyterian Church. He held memberships in the S.C. Bar, American Association for Justice and the American Board of Trial Lawyers. He was a lifetime honorary member of the Hibernian Society, charter board member of the Coastal Crisis Chaplaincy and a member of the National Board of Trial Advocacy.
An Eagle Scout in his youth, Joye remained active in serving as a scoutmaster at his church. He was awarded the Silver Beaver from the Coastal Carolina Scouts.
Joye’s greatest passions were skiing in Colorado and spending time with his grandchildren. He and his wife Jackie enjoyed many wonderful trips together, thoroughly exploring favorite areas of the world, especially the culinary terrain of northern Italy. He was an adventurer, earning his pilot’s license to see the world from above and a scuba diving license to view everything below.
Reese I. Joye died on July 20, 2008. He is survived by his wife, Jacquelyn D. Joye; three children, Mark C. Joye, Dr. Todd P. Joye (daughter-in-law, Lynn Joye) and Celeste J. Foster (son-in-law, Tom Foster); and six grandchildren, Mason Joye, Eliza Joye, Benjamin Joye, William Joye, Emily Joye and Jack Q. Foster.