Dagen McDowell Mother: Who Is Joyce Holt McDowell?

Dagen McDowell’s mother’s name is Joyce Holt. Joyce passed away in 2019 due to cancer.

Joyce Holt was born in Brookneal on July 27, 1938, to Manlie Thomas Holt and Ann Elizabeth “Bessie” Midkiff Holt.  Joyce graduated in 1959 from Mary Baldwin College in Staunton with a degree in economics.

Joyce Holt worked in the advertising department of W.R. Grace in Cambridge, Mass. She has a husband of 58 years Charles Ross McDowell III. She is the mother of Mary Dagen McDowell and Landon Oakes McDowell.

Joce has three granddaughters, Elizabeth Acree McDowell, Phoebe Midkiff McDowell and Beatrix Holt McDowell. She served on the Board of Trustees of the Patrick Henry Memorial Foundation for 11 years.

Joyce Holt McDowell died at the age of 81 on November 7, 2019, at her home in Brookneal, Virginia following a five-and-a-half-year battle with metastatic lung cancer.

Joyce Holt was also a member of the Staunton River Historical Society, Campbell County Historical Society, Charlotte County APVA and Preservation Virginia.