Sarah "Joyce" Jones Richardson passed peacefully into the arms of her savior on Saturday morning, Sept. 26, 2015. After serving her Lord faithfully all of her life, she now has the joy of being in his presence and once again use her talent to sing with the heavenly choir and rejoice with a body that is fully healed. God's blessings are great and merciful to his children.
Visitation will be held from 6 to 8 tonight in the chapel of Bowen-Donaldson Funeral Home. The funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at First Baptist Church of Tifton. Dr. Wayne Roe and the Rev. Larry Layfield will deliver the eulogy. Interment will follow at Tift Memorial Gardens on U.S. Highway 82 East.
Pallbearers will be Stevie Waker, Jamie Walker, Russ Richardson, Jake Richardson, Drew Richardson, Lyle Richardson, Corbin Dickson and Chad Lewis. Honorary pallbearers will be members of The Gardeners Sunday school class at First Baptist Church of Tifton.
Joyce was born on Oct. 31, 1932 in Tifton, the daughter of P.V. and Josie Lightfoot Jones of Chula. As the oldest of nine children, she helped her mother take care of her siblings and was more than just a big sister to most of them. She was a homemaker for many years, raising four children and often helping with the care of her mother and father-in-law.
After her last child started kindergarten, Joyce began working as a secretary at Tift County High School. Later, she would be a fixture in the office at the Northeast Campus, and the faculty quickly learned that if you needed something done, she was the person to contact. She remained at Northeast until her retirement and still considered many of those she worked with as her second family.
Joyce accepted Christ as her savior at Mt. Zion Baptist Church, was a faithful member of New River Baptist Church for many years and in her later years was a member of First Baptist Church of Tifton. She loved being with her friends in Sunday school and in the worship service at First Baptist. She loved singing with Joyful Sound until she could no longer physically attend and often talked about the kindness and the warmth of the people at First Baptist. Despite her physical limitations, she was faithful to her church and to her Lord until the end.
Joyce was preceded in death by her husband, Raymond Richardson; her twin brother, Jack Jones; and two other brothers, Hubert and Derris Jones.
She is survived by two daughters and a son-in-law, Janice and Larry Walker and Becky Richardson of Tifton; two sons and daughters-in-law, Dan and Vivian Richardson of Tifton and Bill and Freda Richardson of Brookfield; grandchildren, Stevie (Michelle) Walker, Jamie (Brita) Walker, Russ (Katie) Richardson, Jake (Susan) Richardson, Sarah (Corbin) Dickson, Drew (Mollie) Richardson, Lia Richardson and Lyle Richardson; and great-grandchildren, Hannah and Chase Walker, Addison and Harlan Walker, Luke Richardson, Carter Dickson and Maggie Sue Richardson. Joyce is also survived by two sisters and three brothers, whom she loved dearly, Hulen (Judy) Jones, Joann (Melvin) Bryan, Donald (Betty) Jones, Shirley Stripling (Harrison Brown) and Larry (Nancy) Jones, all of Chula.