Joylea DuPont's Obituary
Joylea DuPont, aged 91, passed away peacefully on May 16, 2015, after a long battle with Alzheimer’s Disease. Funeral Services will be held on Thursday, May 21, 2015, at 9:00 a.m. in the Chapel at Watson-Hunt Funeral Home in Perry, Georgia. Interment will be alongside Joylea’s husband, William J. Venema, in Floral Hills Memory Gardens in Tucker, Georgia, at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday afternoon. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that contributions be made in her memory to the Alzheimer’s Association (http://www.alz.org).
They call Alzheimer’s “The Long Goodbye.” But for those of us who loved Joylea, that’s not exactly correct. It should be called “The Long Painful Goodbye.” Bit by bit, we watched the woman whom we loved so much slip away from us. The one thing the disease was never able to steal away, however, was her sweetness—her supply was simply too abundant.
She had been a devoted daughter and a loving sister to two sisters, all of whom she outlasted. Her great-grandson Jimmy Hall said she’s now reunited with her sisters and singing with them in heaven. He’s probably right. Her marriage to Bill produced three daughters and a son, all of whom loved her dearly. She was their coach, their cheerleader, and their refuge when life delivered a difficult challenge or disappointment. Though they teasingly asked her to name her favorite, she stubbornly refused to do so. She made it her life’s work to ensure that each of them felt special.
Bill’s untimely death in 1976 left her with the responsibility of caring for her mother and her youngest daughter. She went to work at the U.S. Forest Service in Atlanta, from which she retired in 1988. Thereafter, she moved to Ocala, Florida, where she met George DuPont, who had lost his wife to cancer. Joylea and George married in 1989. They traveled extensively in Europe and the United States and attended numerous World War II reunions with George’s buddies from the Eighth Air Force. George passed away in 2008, just as Alzheimer’s was beginning to take Joylea away from us, too.
She is survived by her four children: Diana Wilson of Perry, Georgia; Pamela Stewart of Summerville, South Carolina; Melissa Parrott of Knoxville, Tennessee; and Bill Venema of Dallas, Texas. She had eleven grandchildren—many of whom she gave their first bath—and ten great-grandchildren. She was a talented artist, decorator, and seamstress who created wonderful keepsakes that will help us cherish her memory. All of us will remember her loving, sweet spirit that even Alzheimer’s couldn’t take away.
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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