Stokes County’s longest sitting sheriff retires: Mike Joyce’s last day was Tuesday

(By Leslie Bray, The Stokes News) - It has been 20 years since Stokes County last said good-bye to a sheriff. But now the time has come for residents to say farewell to the longest sitting sheriff in this county’s history--Mike Joyce. No longer will the familiar sheriff be spotted in “Ruby,” making his Friday rounds to visit Stokes folks.

A couple of hundred of those Stokes folks made their way up to Danbury on Monday, Nov. 29, to honor the outgoing sheriff. The lobby outside of Courtroom A in the Government Complex was full of well-wishers who wanted to personally bid their sheriff adieu.