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It is with deep sorrow that the Moyd family announces the death of their beloved mother, Mrs. Deryl Dean Dempsey "Dee" Moyd, 90. Mrs. Moyd, the widow of Dr. Pickens Kinard Moyd, Sr., entered into rest on Monday, October 14, 2024. The Directors of Brown-Pennington-Atkins Funeral Home & Crematory are caring for the family. A funeral service to honor her life will be held at 2 o'clock on Sunday, October 20, 2024, in St. Luke Methodist Church, with The Rev. Dr. Dora Gafford and The Rev. Dr. Ben Gafford officiating. A private burial will be held following the service. The family will receive friends from 1:00 pm until 2:00 pm on Sunday, October 20, 2024, in the Fellowship Hall of St. Luke Methodist Church. Memorials may be made in her honor to St. Luke Children's Ministries, 302 Dunlap Drive, Hartsville, SC 29550. Mrs. Moyd was born on January 1, 1934, in Orangeburg, SC. She was the daughter of the late Barney Dempsey and the late Nell Hewitt Dempsey. She grew up working on a dairy farm in Cope. She attended Winthrop University, where she played basketball (it was a girls' school back then, and they only played “half-court,” as she would remind anyone who asked). Pickens Moyd saw her picture on the front page of The State newspaper when she won a beauty pageant and told his roommate, “I’m gonna marry that pretty girl.” From Clemson, he called her dormitory and told her, “My name is Pickens, and I would like to date you,” to which she replied, “You’re drunk,” and she hung up on him. His persistence won out, as they were married for 55 years, and he lovingly called her “Dee” or “Lil Hon.” Dee taught elementary school for a short while in Richmond, Virginia, while Pickens studied at the Medical College of Virginia. Shortly thereafter, they moved to Hartsville, SC, where Pickens practiced surgery, and they raised their four boys on a farm in Kelleytown. Dee taught 5-year-old kindergarten at St. Luke Methodist Church for many years. She enjoyed gardening and working outdoors. She also enjoyed keeping a clean house, as Pickens would tease her, “Aw, Hon, what was left to clean today? Did you pull the nails out of the kitchen floor, polish them, and drive them back in?” The family would also tease that she would stand out under her trees and wait for pine cones or magnolia follicles to fall into her catcher’s mitt. She loved entertaining with lavish Christmas parties, bridge club, and church circle meetings. She loved her “to-do” lists with little squares to check them “done” in her Daytimer, which she lovingly called her “little brown brain.” She loved the quietness of Hartsville and that it took years before the grocery stores carried “the big box of Jell-O.” She also loved her husband, her sons, and her grandchildren. There’s not a lot to write about what we know of her life, as she had the exceptional gift of always asking her guests about themselves. One would become aware of this trait and try to spin the conversation back to her, but she was a master of the art of getting people to not only talk about their lives but to remember the tiniest details and to follow up on them at your next conversation. She was the epitome of Southern grace, charm, and style, and she will be missed by all who knew her. She was predeceased by her husband, Pickens, as well as her son, Glenn Alan Moyd, and daughter-in-law, Diane. She leaves behind her sons, Ken, David (Lee), and John (Suzy), all of which reside in Hartsville, as well as her twelve grandchildren.

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Mrs. Deryl Dean Dempsey Moyd

January 1, 1934 - October 14, 2024