Josie Lucinda Marie Speaks received her angel wings at her home in Mt. Pleasant surrounded by her wife, parents, and mother-in-love at 7:45 p.m. on Wednesday, March 5, 2025.

Josie was born January 11, 1978, in Martinsburg, WV to Robert A. and Dawn E. Speaks.

Growing up, Josie always displayed a "watch me" attitude. She was always ready for a challenge. After being diagnosed with Lyme disease during middle school, a doctor told her she would probably have to give up playing sports. She promptly turned on him and adamantly proclaimed, "watch me." And that attitude remained with her throughout her short life. During her high school years, she excelled in volleyball, softball, and basketball along with marching and concert band. Upon graduating from Musselman High School in 1996, she received both academic and athletic recognitions.

She worked for Sheetz and then Quad Graphics in Martinsburg for several years. After moving to Charleston, South Carolina in November 2021, Josie began working at Jiffy Lube in Mt. Pleasant. During the following years, she worked her way up to the manager's position. During 2024, under her direction, she and her employees, "my boys," as she called them, were able to achieve national corporate recognition for two consecutive quarters as the Jiffy Lube store with the highest sales in the southeastern division of the United States.

Josie grew up with cats and kittens, and she enjoyed all the fur-babies, both canine and feline, that she and Ann-Ray have in their home. She also enjoyed collecting baseball cards. She also participated in league pool with Devenney and Ann-Ray on an APA team for three years.

Josie married Ann-Ray Crocker, the daughter of William and Trina Crocker, on December 28, 2021, at the Parkside Church in Charleston, South Carolina in a ceremony officiated by Reverend Colin Kerr.

She is survived by her loving and adoring wife, Ann-Ray Crocker; two step-daughters, Graysen and Dakota Hasty; her parents, Robert and Dawn Speaks; mother-in-love, Trina Crocker; sister, Rachel (Philip) Boyd; nephews, John (Taylor) and Sebastion Aure, Mathew and Mark Boyd, and also a very special friend to her and Ann-Ray, Devenney Mazell.

Josie chose to donate her brain to the Carroll Campbell Neuropathy Lab for research and then be cremated. Her memorial service will be held on Thursday, March 13, 2025, at 7:00 p.m. at the Parkside Church, 45 Moultrie Street, Charleston, South Carolina. Please dress casually and wear red as this was Josie's favorite color—her Cincinnati Reds.

The family would like to express their gratitude to the doctors, physician assistants, and nurses, at Trident Medical Center, Trident Cancer Center, Dr. Mike Tyler of Trident Neurosurgical Specialists (her surgeon), East Cooper Medical Center, East Cooper Outpatient Therapy, Charleston Oncology, Curran (speech therapy), Megan (OT), Michele (lymphedema) and Tracy, her hospice nurse, from Crescent Hospice. In lieu of flowers, donations in Josie's memory may be made to an animal shelter and/or St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.