Joan was a twin, born on July 2, 1945, in St. Joseph’s Infirmary, Atlanta. She was one of four daughters of the late James Lamar Moseley and Margaret Rainwater Moseley of the East Lake neighborhood of Atlanta, later of DeKalb County. She was a 1963 graduate of Murphy High School, where she was a four-year cheerleader.
Joan attended the University of Georgia, where she was a member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority. She graduated in 1968 from the College of Education. While attending the University, Joan met her future husband, Sanders Carter, a law student.
In June 1970, Joan flew from Atlanta to Thailand, where Sanders was stationed as a captain in the United States Army Medical Service Corps. They were married on June 12, 1970, by a Thai official in the American Embassy, followed by a religious ceremony performed by a military chaplain in the United States Army Chapel in Bangkok.
After spending their first year of marriage in Pattaya, Thailand, Joan and Sanders returned to Atlanta in 1971, where Joan was employed by the Georgia Power Company. When their daughter was born in 1974, Joan became a full-time mother and homemaker. Joan and Sanders lived for more than 40 years in the Smoke Rise neighborhood of Stone Mountain, and were members of St. Timothy United Methodist Church. They moved to the Buckhead community of Atlanta in 2014.
Joan had a lifelong love of animals, and she always shared her home with one or more pets, usually cats adopted from rescue organizations. She was a loyal fan of the University of Georgia Bulldogs, and during the fall she and Sanders spent many weekends with friends and family at Georgia football games. Joan loved spending time at Hilton Head Island, a favorite vacation destination for more than 40 years, and she enjoyed domestic and international travel.
Joan is survived by her devoted husband of 48 years, H. Sanders Carter, Jr. of Atlanta; their daughter and son-in-law, Catherine Carter Cleary and Robert Owen “Brett” Cleary, III, of Decatur; their grandchildren, Robert Owen “Rowen” Cleary, IV and Henry Sanders Cleary of Decatur; her twin sister, Jane Byrd of Alpharetta; her sisters, Carol Harris of Decatur and Betty Luce of Macon; her sister-in-law, Susan Carter Lee of Big Canoe; and her nieces and nephews.
Joan’s life will be celebrated at a memorial service at 2:00 p.m. Saturday, April 27, 2019, followed by a reception, both at H. M. Patterson & Son Oglethorpe Hill, 4550 Peachtree Road NE, Brookhaven, Georgia 30319.
Donations in memory of Joan may be made to LifeLine Animal Project at www.lifelineanimal.org.
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