Joy Williams Wakefield, aged 93, passed peacefully on Friday, September 8, 2017 at Bickford of Raytown in Raytown, MO. Joy was born on June 18, 1924 in Birmingham, Alabama to Horrie Bettis Williams and Alabama Chastain Williams. Joy spent many of her formative years in Thomasville, Alabama surrounded by a large, supportive extended family. She graduated from Woodlawn High School in Birmingham, AL and attended the University of Alabama where she met her husband, Bob, a medical student at that time. They married on September 10, 1944. They had three children together and enjoyed forty five years of marriage before Bob’s death in 1989. They lived together in Flomaton, Alabama, Foley, Alabama, Smyrna, Georgia and Mableton, Georgia. After Bob’s death, Joy lived in Marlton, New Jersey; Mobile, Alabama, and recently in Kansas City, Missouri. Joy was a homemaker who enjoyed singing, playing golf with her husband, playing bridge with her friends, needlework, reading, attending church and spending time outdoors. She mostly cherished spending time with her family, including her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, sisters, nieces and nephews. If she wasn’t with them she would be telling stories about them. Joy was a woman of strong faith with a vibrant spirit. She loved music and was known to break out in song at any time. She was a great story teller who loved recounting tales of growing up in the country in South Alabama with her sisters, and numerous aunts, uncles and cousins. Joy will be greatly missed but never forgotten. She touched the lives of all who knew her, and was a very special person to many. She truly was a Joy. We believe she will be happily singing with the angels and reuniting with her family members who passed before her. She was preceded in death by her mother, father, her sister Verne Caruthers and her husband, John Robert Wakefield, Sr., MD. Joy is survived by her children, John Robert Wakefield, Jr., Glenn Thomas Wakefield, and Dolly Wakefield McCarson, and her sister Dolly Jane Wyatt. She also leaves 7 grandchildren and 9 great grandchildren, and many beloved nieces and nephews. A visitation will be at 3:00 pm on Friday, September 15, 2017 at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Wornall Road and Meyer Boulevard, Kansas City, MO. A Memorial service will begin at 3:30 pm. Graveside Services will be held at a later date at Kennesaw Memorial Cemetery in Kennesaw, Georgia. In lieu of flowers, memorials are suggested to St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Kansas City, Missouri or Dauphin Way Methodist Church, Mobile, AL
Friend ,Douglasville, ,Georgia
Friend ,Sandy Springs ,Georgia
Friend ,Camas ,Washington
Former daughter-in-law ,Austin ,Texas
I was very sorry to hear of Joy's passing. She was a supportive, wonderful mother-in-law and truly was a "joy" to be around. May peace be with your family.