JOAN ROPER DORSETT COUCH's Obituary
PERRY –
Joan Roper Dorsett Couch, 85, passed away peacefully on Friday, January 10, 2025, as she was called home to her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Funeral services will be held on Saturday, January 18, 2025, at First Baptist Church of Perry. Visitation will begin at 10:00 a.m. with the service following at 11:00 a.m. with Rev. Dr. Traci Brinson officiating. Burial will be in Evergreen Cemetery immediately following the service. In lieu of flowers, the family respectfully requests contributions in Joan’s memory to First Baptist Church of Perry, 1105 Main Street, Perry, Georgia, 31069.
Joan was born in Atlanta Georgia, to the late Elvin and Robert Lafayette Roper on December 22, 1939. The youngest of two children, Joan’s family moved to Perry when she was three years old after her parents accepted positions to work at Robins Air Force Base. After graduating from Perry High School, Joan received a BS degree from Georgia Women’s College at Milledgeville. Soon after graduation, she began a 32-year career as a stewardess with Delta Airlines in Atlanta. Traveling and seeing the world was a lifelong passion for Joan.
In 1977, Joan married Ralph Anthony Dorsett, making their home in Perry. Joan and Ralph welcomed their only child, Ralph Anthony ‘Rad’ Dorsett, Jr., in 1979. Rad was the sunshine of their lives and brought them abundant joy.
Joan loved to entertain, garden, and was a member of many social clubs throughout her life. She loved to nurture and manicure her garden and yard doting over her camellias, roses, and daylilies with each season. Joan took great pride in her camellias, which were frequent award-winners at camellia shows in the area. She was a proud and active member of the Perry Garden Club and the Middle Georgia Camellia Society.
Joan was also an active member of the Beltista Club of Perry, a ladies’ service organization, with whom she volunteered on various community projects and events through the years, including their most popular shows, Antiques at the Crossroads and the Spring Garden Show, both of which raised thousands of dollars for charitable organizations in Houston County. Joan started and hosted the first meeting of the Dogwood Dames Chapter of the Red Hat Society in the Perry area. She also began what is now known as the Neighborhood Watch program for her subdivision. Following her retirement from Delta, Joan was a weekly columnist for the Houston Home Journal sharing her experiences and conversations around town, just as the column’s title, “Just Visiting,“ indicated. A lifelong member of First Baptist Church of Perry, she was also a member of the Patterson Sunday School Class. She enjoyed serving at the church in many areas through the years, with her most recent involvement on the committee to make special blankets and deliver them to cancer patients.
One of Joan’s most passionate projects was the creation of the ‘Be R.A.D.ical’ Buckle Up campaign following the untimely death of their son in 1993. She spent time appearing at many speaking engagements and distributing thousands of bumper stickers, encouraging everyone to always be safe and use seat belts in a vehicle.
Joan’s love of cars and her membership in the Middle Georgia Mercedes Club led her to meet Thomas Miller “Tommy” Couch, and they married on April 16, 2011. Making their home in Perry, Joan and Tommy shared a mutual fondness for cars and enjoyed exhibiting in car shows, winning multiple awards throughout the Southeast. Joan was also a member of the Ocmulgee Region Porsche Club of America and the Corvair Society of Georgia, where she delightfully displayed her very first car, a 1964 Corvair.
Tommy was Joan’s great last love, and this was always evident when you were with her. She was never shy to express her adoration, gratitude, and love for Tommy.
Joan was preceded in death by her parents; her husband of twenty-nine years, Ralph Anthony Dorsett, Sr.; and her son, Ralph Anthony ‘Rad’ Dorsett, Jr.
Left to cherish the memories they made with Joan are her loving and devoted husband of fourteen years, Tommy Couch of Perry; her daughters, Sammi Couch Caruso of Orlando, Florida, and Elyse Couch (Steve Barker) of Gray, Georgia; her bonus daughter, Jenny Ledger (Lee) of Perry; her grandchildren, Kate Caruso, Austin Caruso, Quentin Caruso; her bonus grandchildren, Daniel Ledger, and Rebecca Ledger; her sister, Nancy Roper Varner (Tommy) of Indianapolis, Indiana; and two nephews and their families.
Condolences for the family may be left in the online guestbook at www.watsonhunt.com. Watson-Hunt Funeral Home has been entrusted with the arrangements.
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