Lethia Joyce Herndon Roerig, 85, of Walterboro, died Monday, Oct. 5, 2026.
Known to all as Joyce, she was born July 25, 1941, in Bellflower, California. She spent much of her life pursuing a passion for collecting that ultimately made her and her late husband, Frederick Robert Roerig, nationally recognized authorities on cookie jars and Americana.
Joyce’s early years were rooted in humble beginnings. Her family lived in California, where her father, William “Bill” Howard Herndon Sr., worked as a welder in the shipyards before they eventually moved to southwest Missouri, where Bill Herndon became a farmer. Those beginnings helped shape Joyce’s lifelong appreciation for farming and the history and beauty found in everyday objects.
Joyce and Fred met on the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Lake Champlain, where Fred was stationed in the U.S. Navy, set up by her sister Helen and Helen’s betrothed, Ralph Smart, who was a shipmate to Fred. They shared 57 years of marriage and a life that took them from Missouri to the Lowcountry of South Carolina. Before moving to Walterboro, the couple lived near Mount Vernon, Missouri, where they were dairy farmers, as well as raised and showedaward-winning Missouri Fox Trotters.
Their life on the farm also provided the setting for what became an extraordinary collecting adventure. Joyce recalled she initially picked up cookie jars simply because she loved them, never imagining that they would become a major collection. Between milking cows, working full-time jobs, and raising their family, Joyce and Fred and their children spent any free time visiting auctions, flea markets, and junk shops in search of unusual pieces.
Over more than five decades, the couple amassed thousands of cookie jars and other collectibles. Their interests extended beyond cookie jars to primitive farmhouse furniture, antiques, farm implements, and other examples of Americana. Joyce’s appreciation for unusual and distinctive pieces helped shape the collection that eventually became one of the best-known private cookie jar collections in the country.
Joyce and Fred shared their knowledge with other collectors through four volumes of “TheCollector’s Encyclopedia of Cookie Jars” and a nationally circulated newsletter, “Cookie Jarrin’” devoted to the hobby. Their books became highly regarded, must-have reference works among cookie jar collectors.
In 1989, the Roerig family moved to Walterboro when Fred transferred with Dayco Products from Springfield, Missouri, to the company’s Walterboro plant. They arrived in the Lowcountry only months before Hurricane Hugo and would make Walterboro their home for the remainder of their lives.
Joyce and Fred raised six children: Patricia Helen Roerig, Karla Ann Mayberry, Suzanne Michelle Roerig-Mendenall, William “Bill” Robert Herndon Roerig, Joy “Mikey” Michon Roerig, and Elizabeth “Libby” Lea Roerig. Their family grew to include seven grandchildren.
Joyce was preceded in death by her husband, Frederick Robert Roerig, who died Feb. 14, 2021, and by her daughter, Suzanne Michelle Roerig-Mendenall, who died Feb. 24, 2023.
She is survived by Patricia; Karla and her wife, Theresa “Terri” Mayberry; Joy; Bill and his wife, Angie Roerig; Libby and her husband, Taylor “Tay” M. Smith III; as well as her grandchildren and extended family.
