Ronnie Milsap is mourning the loss of his wife, Joyce, who died on Monday (September 6th) at the age of 81 after 54 years of marriage.
Ronnie referred to Joyce as his "sapphire." He is quoted in her obituary as saying, "There are no words, and not enough songs in the world to explain how much I love my Sapphire. She was the music and the feeling inside all of those songs, so if you loved my music, you understand some of how much I loved my my beautiful, beautiful wife. It's all in the songs, but she was even more. She was the love of my life, the mother of my son, the world's happiest grandmother . . . Blessedly/Thankfully, she's in heaven with our Todd – and I know somehow from heaven, she's still here with me every day, because that's just how she was." Todd is their son who died in 2019 at the age of 49.
According to USA Today, Joyce battled leukemia in 2014 and was unable to attend the ceremony inducting Ronnie into the Country Music Hall of Fame at the time.