JoAnn Wheeler died on April 6, 2019. She was born on July 7, 1935 in LaFayette, Georgia and lived her entire life in this community, surrounded by family and friends. Her mother, Marie Hood, was a beloved elementary school teacher and her father, Z.S. Hood, ran a concrete mixing company. One day, their neighbor, Maggie Loughridge, took five-year-old JoAnn out in the country one day to visit her brother’s farm. Reportedly, the farmer’s son Bernard was instructed to show JoAnn the chickens. He took her out in the yard, pointed to the chickens, and left her to her own devices. However, by the time they were teenagers, that dismissive attitude changed. They began dating in high school, married in 1954, and were true life partners until Bernard’s death in 2008.
Together, they went into business with JoAnn’s father, expanding the concrete operation to include construction projects. For decades, the three worked together every day at Tri-City Concrete and Construction, with “Hood” dispatching concrete and Bernard handling the outside projects while JoAnn managed the accounts in the office. She enjoyed the camaraderie she shared with the equipment operators and construction workers as they came in and out of the office. JoAnn loved the challenges of balancing accounts: she looked forward to Mondays and was even excited at the annual approach of tax season. She continued to enjoy paying her own bills until only a month before she died.
Bernard and JoAnn lived on the Wheeler family farm, which they kept going as a working farm. Just as with the construction, Bernard handled most of the outside work, while JoAnn kept the books and managed the accounts. However, if cows escaped the fence, she was always ready to run out and help herd them back where they belonged. Over their long marriage, JoAnn and Bernard spent most days together, enjoying each other’s company and the work they did together.
JoAnn was a life-long member of the First Baptist Church in LaFayette, which Bernard joined when they married. For many years, JoAnn taught the Four-Year-Old Sunday School class. She also served in various other roles, including on the Trustees Committee. A great lover of books and reading, she volunteered at several times in her life at the LaFayette Public library.
The couple had two children, Ann Marie and Grady Bernard (“Chip”) whom they raised with enormous love and devotion. Ann Marie is a teacher at University School of Nashville. Chip still lives on the family farm.
JoAnn is survived by Ann Marie and Chip, as well as by her sister and brother in law, Mary Frances and Don Creighton, her brother-in-law Don Fourman, her nephew Jim Creighton (Sherrie), her niece, Cathy Vecchiarelli (Jim) and her aunt, Janette Edwards. Janette and her children (Marie, Kay, Susan, Jane and Beth) were always particularly loving and devoted in their relationship with JoAnn. JoAnn is also survived by numerous life-long friends.
Funeral service will be held at 11 AM Wednesday, April 10, 2019 at the First Baptist Church LaFayette with Pastor Derrick Fielder and Jerry Wilham officiating. Visitation will be held at the funeral home on Tuesday from 6 to 8 PM.
Interment at LaFayette Memory Gardens.
Pallbearers will be members of the First Baptist Church Adult 4 Men Sunday School Class, taught by John Houston.
The family would like to thank the many people who helped them through JoAnn’s last days: Leslie and Chelsea, from Amedysis Home Health and Hospice; Sherri, Carla, Rachel and Candace, kind and compassionate caregivers from Prestige Senior Care Agency, and the tireless Chris Duggan of ICare Connections, who as a Care Manager helped Ann and Chip find resources, coordinate care, and understand options in our mother’s last year.
In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to the First Baptist Church of LaFayette or the LaFayette-Walker County Library.
Arrangements are by Wallis-Wilbanks Funeral Home, LaFayette.
