Joyce Kramer Memorial Booklet

Rev. Joyce Kramer
September 22, 1930 – February 22, 2022

Rev. Joyce Kramer
Rev. Joyce Kramer, 91, of Virginia Beach, passed away peacefully at
home, Tuesday, February 22, 2022.
Born Joyce Jeanette Thomas in Mount Fair, Virginia, in the foothills
of the Blue Ridge Mountains, on September 22, 1930, she grew up
on the family farm. Her love of animals and the outdoors continued
throughout her life. She earned a bachelor’s degree in business education
from Madison College (now James Madison University) and a master’s
degree in business administration from Miami University of Ohio.
In October 1963 she and her two daughters visited a Unity Church in
Hamilton, Ohio. Three years later, after ministerial training from Unity
School of Christianity, she moved to Virginia Beach. There she taught
high school for one year and in October 1966 began teaching Unity
classes at the YMCA on Freemason Street in Norfolk. She held the
first worship service in January 1967. Lowell Fillmore, son of Unity’s
cofounders, Charles and Myrtle Fillmore, ordained her in 1968.
As Rev. Kramer became known for her inspirational teaching and
community service, attendance at Unity of Norfolk steadily increased.
In 1970 the church purchased 11.2 acres of property in Virginia Beach
and became Unity Church of Tidewater. By 1974 the debt on the
property was paid in full and construction began. Meanwhile services
were held at the Sheraton Inn at Military Circle Shopping Center. Rev.
Kramer led the first service in the new facility on December 23, 1979,
as the congregation participated in the Annual Christmas Candlelight
Service. The church continued to grow, with a new 1000-seat sanctuary
opening in May 1991.
Over the course of 50 years, Rev. Kramer delivered thousands of
sermons, conducted weekly classes, taught continuing education courses
at five area schools, and spoke for many local organizations. Her teachings
reached far beyond her community. For 27 years, she recorded more
than 1,400 weekly radio broadcasts for Radio Africa, reaching listeners
in Ghana and Nigeria. Volunteers distributed 40,000 audio recordings of
her messages. Her Sunday morning radio programs in the United States
were broadcast for 25 years. In addition, for nearly 50 years she recorded
daily inspirational messages for her 24-hour telephone ministry known
as Dial-A-Blessing. These were later the basis for her devotional book,
A Year of Blessings. She spread her teachings through others, as well; at
least nine Unity ministers got their start at Unity Church of Tidewater.
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In addition to developing her own ministry, Rev. Kramer served as
president of the Association of Unity Churches for the 1976–77 term
of office and was a visiting instructor for the Unity School of Religious
Studies. Her writings have appeared in Daily Word, Unity Magazine, and
many other publications.
Her work has been recognized by local, national, and international
organizations. She was named Hampton Roads Outstanding Professional
Woman and received the award for Outstanding Contribution to the
Elimination of Racism from the YWCA of South Hampton Roads.
Her international radio programs won her the Voice of Unity Award
for Excellence in Broadcast Outreach. She received the Myrtle Fillmore
Award in 2002 and the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007 from
Unity Worldwide Ministries. In 2017, Unity World Headquarters
recognized Rev. Kramer’s half-century of service in a special presentation
made by Unity CEO Jim Blake.
Following her retirement from Unity Church of Tidewater, she
launched Joyce Kramer Ministries through which she published an
Advent guide, Celebrate Christmas, and two books, The Bible Speaks to You
and God’s Twelve Gifts to You, a practical application of Charles Fillmore’s
teaching on the Twelve Powers. Rev. Kramer’s voice is still heard online
at joycekramerministries.com where her writings are also available.
She is survived by her daughter Carolyn Tancock ( Jim); two grandchildren,
James Tancock (Brittany Leigh) and Alexander Tancock; and
four nieces, a nephew, and their families. She was predeceased by her
daughter, Sandra Batchelor, in 2019.
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Top left: Joyce at Madison College (now James Madison University) in Harrisonburg, Virginia,
1949. Top right: Joyce in her teens, around 1947. Bottom left: Rev. Joyce Kramer speaks to congregants
at the groundbreaking for Unity Church of Tidewater. Bottom right: A delighted Joyce feeds her pet
lamb, a gift from her favorite uncle.
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Top left: Screenshot of an interview by Mark Hicks with Rev. Joyce Kramer, videotaped in her
church office December 6, 2013. The interview may still be seen at truthunity.net. Top right: Rev.
Joyce Kramer at Unity Church of Tidewater. Bottom: Joyce Kramer’s home in Virginia Beach for
more than 50 years. Here she raised her daughters and, in her basement study, wrote thousands of
sermons, radio broadcasts, and Dial-A-Blessing messages.
5

Psalm 23
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me to rest in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff
they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies;
thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely thy goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life;
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
(Lamsa translation)
Top: Joyce enjoying a laugh with her daughters, Carolyn (left) and Sandy (right).
Bottom: Christmastime with Carolyn and Sandy, 2011.
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Top: Joyce’s son-in-law, Jim Tancock, accompanies her after a
1989 wedding she officiated. Bottom: Joyce with her grandsons,
Alex (left) and James (right), 2007.
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Top: Rev. Joyce Kramer, 1996, in a newspaper interview about her radio ministry to Africa.
Bottom: This newspaper photo of Rev. Joyce Kramer appeared in The Ledger-Star in 1968,
the year she was ordained by Lowell Fillmore. Durer’s “Praying Hands” dominate the foreground
with Sallman’s painting, “The Head of Christ,” overlooking her. PHOTO BY NEAL
V. CLARK JR.
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Cultivate the Seed of Greatness in You
By Rev. Joyce Kramer
Are you settling for mediocrity in life? Are you just going along in an
average, ordinary way, sort of lukewarm? Or are you taking the time and
making the effort to cultivate that seed of greatness that God implanted
within you?
Are you inclined to give up or give in, settling for less than the best
in life?
There is no need to do so. You have the God-given ability to experience
the best that life has to give. You are greater than the things that
happen to you. You need not, nor should you, settle for less than you
desire in life.
Keep working toward greater things. You have the seed of greatness
within you. Cultivate it. Great good is in store for you. You are a child of
God, an offspring of the powerful, loving, creative Spirit of the universe.
This means that you have inherited the very nature of God. Let this
nature be expressed through you now.
I praise and give thanks for the Spirit of God that is within me.
I diligently and persistently learn to express it.
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The Traveler
By James Dillet Freeman
She has put on invisibility.
Dear Lord, I cannot see—
But this I know, although the road ascends
And passes from my sight,
That there will be no night;
That You will take her gently by the hand
And lead her on
Along the road of life that never ends,
And she will find it is not death but dawn.
I do not doubt that You are there as here,
And You will hold her dear.
Our life did not begin with birth,
It is not of the earth;
And this that we call death, it is no more
Than the opening and closing of a door—
And in Your house how many rooms must be
Beyond this one where we rest momently.
Dear Lord, I thank You for the faith that frees,
The love that knows it cannot lose its own;
The love that, looking through the shadows, sees
That You and she and I are ever one!
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Top: Joyce’s childhood home in the foothills of Afton Mountain in Mount Fair, Virginia.
Middle: Unity Church of Tidewater is well integrated into its natural environment. Skylights
and stained glass allow the sanctuary to be filled with filtered light, creating a peaceful
and reverent atmosphere. Photo circa 2011. Bottom: Gardening gave Joyce great joy. She
loved flowers of all kinds, including the daffodils in her yard.
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Joyce at her kitchen table, January 7, 2022.
Beauty is a light in the heart.
—Khalil Gibran