Judith Abigail Joyner Moss

Dr. Judith Abigail Joyner Moss, D.O. was born August 5, 1953 in Terrell Texas, to James Albert Joyner Sr and Frances Marie Cook (Marks). After spending her younger years in Texas, Gail later relocated with the family to Shreveport, Louisiana. While working at Sears at the age of 19, she met Bill Moss, and after a short 6 weeks, the pair married.

 During the following years, she moved with her young family to the Dallas area. Gail worked several types of jobs, from providing day care to the local neighborhood kids, to working as a receptionist in a medical research office. She was passionate about the medical field and carried an aspiration for a higher calling during these years. 

 Gail never gave up on her lifelong dream of becoming a doctor, and in 1988 completed her Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Texas at Arlington, before matriculating at the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine in Fort Worth, Texas, at the age of 35. In 1992, towards the end of her formal medical study, she won the prestigious Wayne O. Stockseth Award for Osteopathic Excellence and was asked to stay on as a teaching fellow for an additional year to help train other students, an honor that she did not take lightly.

 As a kind, compassionate, sweet and caring doctor, Gail became a central fixture of any community she lived in. She loved her patients like an extended family, and went out of her way to make sure that each one was well taken care of, whether that be in the office, or in the aisle in the grocery store, where she was often stopped to “take a look at this”. Gail spent over 30 years as a physician practicing family medicine, helping others from birth to death, and all of life in between. Even though she could be a little "challenging" when she was a patient herself, she always had a deep respect for medical science and the improvements it brings to human life.

 While her career was important to her, Gail’s proudest accomplishments included being a mom and a grammy, as well as a second mom and mentor to so many others. Her family was more than just her blood family; she had a found family that extended across the globe. She was extremely intelligent, funny, full of life, adventurous, imaginative, and hard working, inspiring her friends and family to do their best while treating others with respect.

Gail was somewhat restless and loved to travel with family, experience the joy and thrill of life, and often dreamt about building a compound for all the family to live in. She loved being silly and unexpected, excelling in activities ranging from skydiving from a perfectly good airplane, to dressing up in elaborate costumes with the kids for Halloween. She loved Tex-Mex food and sought it out wherever she went. Sharing a meal with her loved ones was a simple and pure joy that she carried throughout her life.

 Gail spent the last decade of her life in the Orlando area, a place she had often visited in prior years. She loved being near the theme parks and visited them as often as possible with anyone and everyone. She loved to see the magic of imagination reflected in the eyes of all her children, and was earnestly looking forward to taking her youngest granddaughters to be princesses for a day, something that she said “every little girl needs at least once in their life.”

Gail is preceded in death by her parents and her brother James Albert Joyner Jr. She is survived by her husband of 51 years, Bill Moss, her sister and best friend Cindy Joyner, her sisters Jan Joyner Dufour and Angela Lee Williams, her brothers John Joyner and Leonard Joyner, her son William "Pete" Moss, her daughter Amber Moss O'Neil, her nephew and second son James “Jamie” Joyner, chosen daughter Tamara Harris, chosen son Shawn Darr, and her grandchildren Ronan Moss, Hailey O'Neil, Evan O'Neil, Keona Cisco-Moss, and Nyla Cisco-Moss, and many nieces and nephews who adored her. Mom was much loved and will be missed deeply by all of us.