Brenda Joyce McCoy-Gussin was born on February 25, 1944, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to Ollie Stevens and Wyman McCoy. She was the second child in her family and the oldest sister.

For the first sixteen years of her life, Brenda lived in the backwoods of Alabama, carrying water from the well to be heated for baths in the front yard. Her grandmother, “Big Momma,” sewed all of her and her siblings’ clothes. Brenda loved helping tend the family’s garden and helping raise her two younger sisters.

When Brenda was sixteen, her father, Wyman, received a job offer in California. The family left the life they knew and headed west for a new adventure. Just two years later, she met her first husband and the father of her six children.

Throughout her life, Brenda worked many different jobs — as a secretary, a waitress, a business manager/accountant, and even as most of her family’s personal tax preparer. Her favorite job, though, was the only one she never got paid for: being a mother and a grandmother. She gained a lot of wisdom throughout her years and did her best to share it with the ones she loved most in the best way she knew how.

She became a mother at nineteen and a grandmother by thirty-six. At forty-three, she lost her eldest daughter, her firstborn, in a tragic accident. She was then tasked with one of the hardest, yet most rewarding, things she would ever do: raising her daughter’s three beautiful children.

She was a tough woman — sometimes stubborn — but she always loved with her whole heart. She is lovingly remembered by her brother and sister, her five children, her seven grandchildren, thirteen great-grandchildren, and two great-great-grandchildren. Her family was always the center of her life, and she leaves behind a legacy of love that will continue for generations.

Brenda will always be remembered for her warm heart and the love she poured into her family through her cooking. Her homemade chicken and dumplings, biscuits and gravy, potato salad, banana pudding, and lemon icebox pie were family favorites. Her chicken and vegetable soup was something she would always make whenever one of her grandchildren or great-grandchildren was sick. Even after standing for long periods became difficult in her later years, those cherished memories of watching her cook and cooking alongside her remain some of the most treasured — a reminder of the love she showed in the simplest acts.

Brenda passed away on July 1, 2026.

Brenda’s strength, kindness, and unwavering love for her family touched everyone who knew her. Though our hearts are broken by her passing, we find comfort in knowing that her love, her laughter, and the traditions she created will live on in all of us.

Brenda was preceded in death by her parents, Ollie and Wyman McCoy; her beloved husband, Joseph Gussin; her sister, Susan McCoy; and her eldest daughter, Regina Smith. She will be deeply missed, forever loved, and never forgotten.