A first generation American, Joyce Bryce Stephens was born at home in Atlanta on June 15, 1926. Her parents had immigrated to Canada from London, England just at the end of World War I, and then to Atlanta along with her two older sisters. Joyce lived in Atlanta and the metro-Atlanta area her whole life. Our parents got divorced when people still called that kind of a family a “broken home.” We were anything but that. Momma provided a wonderful home and life for us three kids. We are better adults by being her children and having her as our role model.
Aunt Jo, as her many nieces and nephews called her, loved travelling, helping others, her family and having adventures. She travelled throughout the USA including Alaska, Hawaii, New York, the west coast, up and down the Atlantic coast, and visiting children and grandchildren as they moved throughout the country before coming back home to Georgia. She also visited Bryce and Waggitt family members in England.
Momma was a volunteer. She taught Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, was a Blue Bird (Camp Fire Girls) leader, and helped so many people and touched so many lives. She would cook and grocery shop for those who couldn’t do it for themselves. After she retired from the Interstate Commerce Commission, she volunteered for Habitat for Humanity.
She loved her family. She was always there for sporting events for her children and grandchildren, cheering from the sidelines. She supported us through good times and bad; we could always count on her. She was very artistic and a wonderful seamstress and didn’t even get too upset when she had to make an extra bridesmaid’s hat on the day of Lee’s wedding or after cutting out and piecing plaid material for a Pep Club skirt for Joan, found out the night before that it was supposed to be culottes! (Well, maybe she did get pretty upset about that.)
Momma loved adventure. When we were young, many summers were spent camping out at Vogel State Park in the north Georgia mountains with our friends the Gaines’ family. Paddle boat rides, horse back riding (in both instances having someone fall off a horse or into the lake), cooking meals over an open campfire, and pitching our own army surplus tent have left us with so many special memories. Other adventures included white water rafting, a hot air balloon ride, parasailing, and for her 83rd birthday riding in a bi-plane. An animal adventure was when the flying squirrel invaded Al’s room. A fun time for all.
Joyce was a member of Candler Park Baptist Church, Valley Brook Baptist Church, and Poston Road Baptist Church. She went to heaven June 4, 2019. She died in her own bed in her own home as she had wished. Visitation is Friday, June 7, 2019 4-8 pm and funeral service is Saturday June 8 at 11:30. Both are at Tara Garden Chapel, 681 North Avenue, Jonesboro GA 30236. She will be buried at Westview Cemetery. Flowers are welcome, and donations in Momma’s memory can be made to Poston Road Baptist Church, 9701 Poston Road, Jonesboro GA 30238, American Cancer Society, or American Diabetes Association.
Joyce was preceded in death by her loving grandson, Daniel Stephens, her parents, Walter and Gertrude Bryce, her brother, Walt Bryce, her sisters, Agnes Black and Verna Gordon. She is survived by children: Lee (Wendell) Turner, Al (Diana) Stephens, and Joan (Andy) Fountain. Grandchildren: Amy Ramsey, Drew (Tracey) Fountain, Jake Fountain, Katie Stephens, Emily Stephens, Megan Turner, Maura (Gareth) Cox, and Mason (Ruti) Turner. Great-grandchildren: Gavin, Gabe, Lucas, Evie, Jackson, Hannah, James, Jordan, McKenna, Jane, and Everett. Numerous cousins and friends in the United States and England also survive Joyce.
When she’d call us for our birthdays she’d always sing
“Happy Birthday to you” and end it with “and many more and clap, clap, clap!”
“Love you more.”
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