NASHVILLE — Joey Marie Feek was ready — she was peaceful and accepting, believing that it wasn’t God’s will for her to be healed from the stage 4 cervical cancer she’d fought off and on for nearly two years.
Feek, 40, lost her battle with cancer at 2:30 p.m. CT Friday afternoon.
“I’ve prayed and prayed and prayed I’d discover I was healed,” Feek said in November. “But I realized I was healed in a different way. I was healed in my relationship with Christ, because it just drew me closer.”
“Children are never ours,” Feek’s mother, June Martin, said tearfully during her daughter’s illness. She also lost her son, Justin, in a car accident in 1994. “God just lends them to us for a while. I believe that. Don’t be angry. It’s easy to be. I have been a couple of times. It’s his call. He is in charge. We’re all given a day to die. None of us are going to live forever.”
Country music fans first met Feek in 2008 — she and husband Rory comprised Grammy-nominated duo Joey+Rory, which placed third on the inaugural season of CMT’s reality talent search Can You Duet. Their debut single, “Cheater, Cheater,” climbed to No. 30 on Billboard’s country radio airplay charts, and they were named spokespeople for Overstock.com.
They released seven albums, including Hymns That Are Important To Us which topped Billboard's Country Albums sales chart in February. The couple also hosted the popular The Joey+Rory Show on RFD-TV. And many mornings, she made the quick drive from their Pottsville, Tenn., farmhouse to Marcy Jo’s Mealhouse, the restaurant near Columbia that she operated with her sister-in-law, Marcy Gary.
But it was through her illness that she garnered worldwide interest. Rory Feek shared stories on his blog, www.thislifeilive.com, of her faith and integrity in the face of death. Her story went viral and millions read of the singer’s unwavering dedication to God, her daughter and her family.
“I'm a middle-aged woman living up north on Long Island, NY and cannot be called a country music fan,” wrote Michele Citrin. “I've only gotten to know Joey and Rory thru the stories ... online. I cannot tell you how much their lives and their journey has touched me these recent weeks. I've prayed and asked the patron saint of my local Catholic Church to give Joey and her family strength.”
Before she died, Feek said God decided for her that “my job of singing for people down here is my legacy, and he needs me singing up there.”
That job was a dream come true for Feek, an Alexandria, Ind., native who grew up idolizing Dolly Parton. Her parents performed in a band in high school and Feek dreamed of following in their musical footsteps. One of five children, she started singing at age 5 and her first performance was at a local elementary school. She sang with her family in church and at county fairs, and her sisters remember private concerts they put on for themselves.
“Mom would wax the floors and we would roll up the rugs, and we had a record player,” recalled her oldest sister, Jody Martin, 42. “She always wanted to be a singer, always. When I think of Joey, I think of music and horses. That’s what she loved.”
“She always wanted to get to Tennessee,” added her youngest sister, Jessie May, 32.
Feek made the move by the time she was 23 — and held tight to her childhood love of horses. Her first job in Nashville was for an equestrian veterinarian, and by her late 20s she signed a record deal with a major label that never produced an album.
She spotted husband Rory at a songwriters night and immediately felt drawn to him but thought her feelings were a mistake — he talked about his daughters and she assumed he was married. She learned he was single, and they were married about four months after their first date in June 2002. She put her singing career on hold and helped him raise his daughters. Can You Duet was Mrs. Feek’s return to the spotlight.
The couple welcomed daughter Indiana on Feb, 17, 2014, an event Feek considered "the most important” in her life. She chose to have the little girl at home with the assistance of midwives and the baby was born breech. A few days later, the parents learned their infant had Down syndrome. In the days before her death, Feek said her greatest hope for her daughter was that she grew up with no fear and that she was able to fall in love, get married and live independently near her father.
In May after Indiana’s birth, Feek was diagnosed with cervical cancer. She underwent a radical hysterectomy, but her cancer returned a year later. Despite more surgery and aggressive treatment, the cancer continued to grow. She discontinued treatment in October and was given six to nine months to live.
“Some people live their whole life and never figure out what’s important,” said family friend Gloria Gaither. “Joey, more than anybody I know, recognizes what’s eternal in the moment and gives herself totally for that. ... She learned in her short life to zero in, and some people live until they’re 85 and never learn what’s worth giving your life away for. I have to say thank you to her for reminding me and teaching me again that this moment is all we have.”
Besides her husband, Feek is survived by stepdaughters Heidi Caroline Feek and Sarah Hope Feek and daughter Indiana Boon Feek; parents Jack Martin and June Martin; and sisters Jody Martin, Julie Snyder and Jessie May; as well as many nieces and nephews. Her brother, Justin Martin, died in 1994.
She will have a private funeral service.
