Edith Joy Stout Pennington, 71, of Louisville, died peacefully at her home, March 23, with Lee, her husband of 49 years, at her side. Her body was cremated and her ashes will be spread at sea.
She was born and raised in the mountains of east Tennessee--not far from the original town site of old Butler (now submerged under Watauga Lake).
She was preceded in death by her parents ( Haskel and Lona Stout of Butler, TN) and two sisters (Jan Tucker, Woodbridge, VA; and Jean Miller, Elizabethton, TN ) and a brother (Ray Stout, Elizabethton, TN).
In addition to her husband, Lee, she is survived by three sisters (Sandy Miller, Durham, NC; Dot Stout, Butler, TN; and Margery Church (Allen), Butler, TN) and two brothers (Don Stout (Nancy) Orlando, FL; and Bill Stout, Butler, TN).
Joy was a retired professor of English at the University of Kentucky Jefferson Community College (now Jefferson Community and Technical College) where she taught the last 32 years of her career. She had previously taught at Southeast Community College in Cumberland, KY and Newburgh Free Academy in Newburg, NY.
She earned degrees from Berea College, Berea, KY and the University of Iowa, Iowa City. Widely traveled, Joy and Lee had visited all the United States, all the Canadian Provinces except one, and 72 foreign countries. She edited Selected Kentucky Literature, published by Archer Editions Press in 1980.
For 26 years Joy was volunteer Executive Director of the annual Corn Island Storytelling Festival in Louisville. Joy was co-owner of JoLe Productions, a film company she and her husband established in 1990. Together, they produced 21 documentaries, including The Mound Builders, Eyes That Look at the Sky: the Mystery of Easter Island, The Serpent Fort: Solving the Mystery of Fort Mountain, Georgia, and Wales: History in Bondage.
An open-to-the-public celebration of Joy's life will be held Sunday, March 27, 1 PM, at Newcomer Funeral Home, 235 Juneau Drive, Middletown, KY.
Expressions of sympathy in Joy's name may be made to Hosparus of Louisville (PO Box 35425, Louisville, KY 40233).
Remembrances of Joy can be made online at: www.newcomerlouisville.com