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Joyce Craig Lewis

2023 Women’s History Month

Joyce Craig Lewis

Joyce Michelle Craig grew up in the City of Philadelphia and attended Cook-Wissahickon Elementary School, William Levering Middle School, and Murrell Dobbins Vocational High School, where she majored in printing.

Joyce was a loving, outgoing, tough-as-nails, hardworking mother, sister, and friend.

Joyce always showed a self-sacrificing spirit, leading her to become trained as an EMT, a job she held for years. However, her passion was to become a firefighter. “It was a dream of mine since I was five.”

She admired the firefighters on Ridge and Midvale (Engine 35 – Ladder 25), where she lived. Joyce began looking to accomplish this goal by studying for hours and explaining to her sisters the difference between various fire hydrants and trucks.

Firefighter Joyce Craig served as a member of the Philadelphia Fire Department with valor and distinction. She graduated from the Firefighter Academy, Fire Class 178, in March 2004.

In her service to the community, Firefighter Craig continually proved her duty-bound commitment to the saving of lives and the preservation of property.

She served with Engine 9, Engine 45, Ladder 21, and Engine 64 and will always be remembered as a “firefighter’s firefighter.”

Regrettably, on Tuesday, December 9, 2014, Firefighter Joyce Craig died in the line of duty. She was posthumously promoted to fire lieutenant on January 12, 2015.

Joyce loved her family, and it was about keeping them together. She was the aunt to go to for cool school clothes, name-brand sneakers, and trips.