Alice Joyce Kerr Neighbors was born December 27, 1930 in rural Randolph County, Alabama.
She was one of eight children born to parents Alma Beryl Thomaston Kerr and Joseph Urvine Kerr. The youngest of four girls and number six in birth order, Neighbor’s life was greatly influenced by the Great Depression and World War II. Farm life in Randolph County was hard and it was well after Joyce graduated from high school that the family farm had electricity. The children were often barefooted when they picked cotton, donning shoes only when fall weather arrived.
While her brothers would use the GI Bill to attend college, Joyce went to work and saved for two years before finding a path to Auburn University in 1950. While there, she worked nights as a telephone operator to accommodate daytime classes. “It was the happiest day of my life [when she started college]. I just floated to algebra class.” Neighbors later attributed her success as an engineer to a love of learning and willingness to continually upgrade her skills.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in math with a double minor in physics from Auburn University, a master’s degree in engineering from the University of Alabama in Huntsville and a Ph.D. in engineering mechanics from the University of Alabama.
Literally and figuratively, Joyce Neighbors, at a full height of 6 feet, 1 inch, stands tall in American history as a pioneer for women entering STEM fields. She was among the first female engineers to join Dr. Wernher von Braun’s team, spanning the U.S. Army Ballistic Missile Agency to NASA. Early in her career she led the group that calculated the flight trajectory of the Jupiter C vehicle that launched America’s first successful satellite, Explorer I, and later calculated the preliminary trajectories for the Saturn V vehicle. She was part of the technical staff in the guidance and control division of Marshall Space Flight Center’s Astrionics Laboratory, a senior system engineer for the High Energy Astronomical Observatory Project and chief engineer for the Atmospheric Cloud Physics Laboratory. She became Marshall’s program manager for Gravity Probe B, a test of Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity.
Not one to seek exclusive accolades but rather to work for the team and “what is right,” Neighbors was widely regarded at NASA for her tenacity, quick mind and follow-through.
“Dr. Joyce Neighbors was a pioneer for women in our field and an inspiration to so many,” said Jody Singer, Marshall Space Flight Center director. “Her work on Explorer, Skylab, the High Energy Astronomical Observatory Project and the Saturn V proves she could conquer just about any obstacle. Throughout her more than five decades of service to NASA, she helped break the glass ceiling for women. She never gave up on the mission. Women like Dr. Neighbors laid the foundation that will enable us to land the first woman on the surface of the Moon. My condolences to her family and friends as we remember a life well lived and a true leader in the U.S. space program.”
After retiring from NASA in 1986, she returned to the quiet of Randolph County farm life in support of her late husband Bill Neighbors, also a fellow engineer at NASA. “He thought he could turn his health around. I really wasn’t that ready to retire but he had always been so supportive of me that I felt I owed it to him.” The lure of a position with Martin Marietta later won out and Neighbors finished her professional career over the next 10 years, retiring from Lockheed Martin in 1997.
Throughout her professional career and retirement, Neighbors mentored and supported efforts to increase the number of women and underrepresented individuals entering science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields.
She was preceded in death by beloved husband Bill Neighbors. “He was the best deal I ever made,” she often said.
Neighbors is survived by two brothers, Tom, of Huntsville, and Floyd, of Northridge, CA. Other friends and family include Sandra and Doug Arendall of Birmingham; Gloria Hutchinson of Tuscaloosa; Sarah Williams of Virginia Beach, VA; Donna Dudley of Hunstville; Alan Kerr of Germany; Robert Kerr of Wedowee, Elina Wells of Temple, TX; Nancy Neighbors of Huntsville; Mary Martin of Huntsville; Victor and Johane Lopez of Huntsville; Sylvester and Ethel Parker of Wedowee; and Charlotte Talley of Scottsboro.
Funeral services will be Monday, February 10th at First Christian Church, 3209 Whitesburg Drive in Huntsville. Visitation will be held 12:00 -1:00 p.m. with the funeral beginning at 1:00 p.m. Burial is at Maple Hill Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made in support of Space Camp scholarships through the U.S. Space & Rocket Center Education Foundation, 256.721.5425 or gospaceeducation.org.
