Women’s History in Southport

AN UNCONVENTIONAL WOMAN

The Story of Joy Arnold Gregory

By Jan Morgan-Swegle “There is no limit to what we, as women, can accomplish.” —Michelle Obama

When former first lady Michelle Obama said this, she could well have been speaking about Joy Arnold Gregory of Southport. Arnold has accomplished much during her life— many “firsts” for women during the era of World War II.

Joy was born in 1925 and was an only child, unconventional from the start. As a young girl, her father taught her to “hunt, fish, and fight.” She was known as “Tuffy” because there wasn’t anything she was afraid of trying.

Her parents, especially her mother, didn’t impose traditional gender roles of the era on Joy, because she herself didn’t follow them. Her father piloted shrimp boats and tug boats. Her mother was a “Shore Captain” in the family’s charter boat business and a weather watcher. Her mother told Joy, “If you enjoy your work and you’re good at it, do it.”

Southport Romance

By the age of 16, Joy was a volunteer hostess at the Southport USO. She was not afraid to walk home in the evenings after her shift, but one night, she felt like someone was following her. She turned quickly and asked the young sailor who was behind her what he was doing. He said, “I’ve been watching you all night. I like you so I thought I’d walk you home.” Joy pondered this for a minute and replied, “Well, if you’re going to walk me home, get up here and walk with me, not behind me.” And that was the start of her love story with George Gregory.

George was from Pennsylvania, stationed at Fort Caswell near Southport, on the USS Ruby. He became a frogman, a very dangerous job to have in the Navy, but he volunteered for it and was proud to have been selected for this role.

George left Southport to complete his frogman training—but not before marrying Joy. He served in Okinawa and Iwo Jima. Now 17 and married to a military man, Joy decided to go to one of the shipyards in the area and become a welder to help the war effort.

Photos courtesy Southport Historical Society Joy Hewe Gregory Arnold, le , was the first woman to become a deputy sheriff in Brunswick County. Fearless and ambi#ous, she blazed many trails for women.

Shipyard Safety

Joy and the other women at the shipyard were required to wear long pants and, in the interest of safety, they were never to roll up their pant legs. One hot summer day when she was welding, deciding the rules weren’t for her, she rolled her pant legs up to let the breeze cool her down. Immediately hot metal hit her legs and burned her.

“Well, I jumped right up and took off my pants then I headed for the horse trough that held water for cooling metal and jumped right in. I drew a crowd that day,” she laughed.

After her welding career, Joy became a business owner. She owned a bar, a dress shop, and a trailer park, all while working as clerk of court. She had no idea that moving to the sheriff’s office would result in her making history in Brunswick County.

A Woman Deputy

The incoming sheriff of Brunswick County recruited Joy to be the first woman deputy on the police force. Deputy Sheriff Joy Gregory started her career without a police uniform and had to use her own car to patrol the area, but she kept a two-shot Derringer in her pocket at all times.

Joy did well in her role, eventually becoming chief deputy and jailor. There were times when she had to travel to transport people to jail or for medical reasons.

“The sheriff always sent me because he said that a man would fight a man, but a man wouldn’t fight a woman,” she said. Her only trouble was with a woman she had to pick up and transport for treatment. The sheriff told Joy to put a bottle of wine under the front seat. Joy thought that was a bit odd, but she trusted the sheriff and followed his instructions. When she arrived to pick up the woman, she found her combative, verbally abusive, and definitely a flight risk. Joy wrestled her to the car, locked the door and asked her if she wanted some wine.

“Of course,” the woman responded. Joy gave the woman the bottle and drove her, now happy and calm, straight to treatment. Unfortunately, when they arrived, with no uniform and a gun in her pocket, the treatment facility thought Joy was the patient and tried to confine her.

Joy always knew she was destined to be a strong woman. She said, “I was always strong willed, but my husband ‘got’ me. He accepted the person I was and so did I. Working made me feel important, and I was good at it.”

Today, Joy lives quietly in a nursing facility surrounded by her memories of George, her daughters, and her career. She doesn’t consider herself a trailblazer for women—just a woman who did a job that she loved, and did it well.

Thanks to Liz Fuller, president of the Southport Historical Society (SHS), for her assistance with this story. This information was taken from oral history interviews conducted by Fuller between 2019 and 2020, which are available for viewing on the SHS YouTube channel. For more information, contact SHS at info@ southporthistoricalsociety.org.

At 16, Joy was a volunteer hostess at the Southport USO. One evening she heard someone following her home from work. She turned quickly and asked the young sailor who was behind her what he was doing. He wanted to walk her home. That man was George Gregory, who became her husband.