JOEY MARTIN FEEK, R.I.P.

Not since Ali McGraw and Ryan O’Neal in Love Story has a love affair through a terminal illness captured the imagination like blugrass/country/gospel duo Joey + Rory’s very public facing of Joey Martin Feek’s final months battling cervical cancer. Today, after many miracles and magic moments, the dark-haired songwriter passed away with her family at her side. Joey Feek was 40.

The Indiana-born-and-raised songstress came to Nashville in the late ‘90s to chase her dream. Beyond recording Strong Enough To Cry, a solo album, she found a soulmate in fellow songwriter Rory Feek. Feek had written hits for Blake Shelton (“Some Beach”), Easton Corbin (“A Little More Country Than That”), Jimmy Wayne (“I Will”) and Clay Walker (“Chain of Love”), but it was with his true love that he found his greatest success.

Having starred in Can You Duet?, where they finished third, the pair signed to Sugar Hill Records—and had their biggest radio hit. The Top 10 Life of A Song contained their only Top 40 hit, the #30 “Liar, Liar,” with a video featuring Naomi Judd. The momentum helped propel the pair to the Academy of Country Music’s Top New Duo or Group.

Though several more albums followed, radio success was elusive. But Joey + Rory continued following their heart and making music. They also opened a restaurant, filmed an RFD-TV show and played shows.

It was from the pregnancy with their daughter Indiana that Joey’s cervical cancer was discovered. Though aggressively treated in 2014, her cancer recurred and spread throughout her body. Devout Christians, Joey + Rory vowed to face whatever was before them with strength, grace and courage; and Rory’s blog This Life I Live captured America’s attention as he chronicled his pain and his wife’s strength in facing the inevitable.

Having made a final trip home to Indiana, Joey’s health faltered enough to require hospice care. But even then, the pair found miracle after miracle: a surprise Grammy nomination for “If I Needed You,” Christmas amongst family, a viral hit with “When I’m Gone,” Valentine’s Day, celebrating Indiana’s second birthday and a #1 Country and Christian album debut with Hymns, recorded while Joey was fighting cancer.

The brave couple offered hope facing down the inevitable, and people responded. Though they never found arena-sized success with their music, they captivated the nation with their dignity, love and willingness to be strong in such harrowing circumstances.

Even today, in a post titled "A Dream Come True," Rory wrote of his wife’s passing, saying, “my wife’s greatest dream came true today. She is in Heaven. The cancer is gone, the pain has ceased and all her tears are dry. Joey is in the arms of her beloved brother Justin and using her pretty voice to sing for her savior."

“At 2:30 this afternoon, as we were gathered around her, holding hands and praying, my precious bride breathed her last. And a moment later took her first breath on the other side.”

Subtitled “Scenes from One Man’s Extraordinary Ordinary Life,” he shared the final moments the woman he loved lived and her first moments in heaven. She was the mother of his child; in dying, Joey + Rory showed us what faith is made of. With a 2016 ACM Top Duo nomination, it is quite possible there is one more miracle left for Joey.