Joe Ann Reiland

1929 - 2002

Joe Ann Reiland died Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2002, at a Tyler hospice after a courageous battle with lung cancer.

Memorial Service: 2 p.m. Friday at First Baptist Church of Athens, Texas. Burial: Culpepper National Cemetery in Culpepper, Va.

Joe Ann was born March 10, 1929, in Fort Worth to Gerald and Elsie McDonald, both of whom preceded her in death. She traveled and lived around the world and spent the last 14 years in Athens. She was always a Texas girl at heart and epitomized what it meant to be a Southern lady. A loyal friend described her as "a gracious, considerate hostess, who could entertain everyone, sharing wonderful, engaging, bright conversation and tales of her full life. She had a gift for making everyone feel important, she was a wise woman and beautiful inside and out."

Through a wide range of activities, from president of the Women's League in Northern Virginia, to working with Boy Scouts, Joe Ann supported the children and many of the communities where she lived, serving as a dedicated volunteer. Homemaker and mother was Joe Ann's most important work for two decades.

Joe Ann just loved to "play in the dirt" and was voted "Best Samba Dancer" and "Best Mom in the Neighborhood" by the kids. After retiring in 1994 as an executive secretary for Sumotomo Corp. in Dallas, life was spent enjoying ballroom dancing, reading, cultivating her garden, and loving her animals.

"Little Joe's" beloved husband, Peter "Pierre" Reiland died in May of this year.

Survivors: Proudly, she was the sister to Betty Blalock of Hawaii and Jay and Horner McDonald of Texas; mother to Sandra Jaffe of California, Jay A. Little of Virginia, Derek F. Little of Texas and Mary Ellen Sherburne Gizzie of Virginia; and the grandmother to Sarah Jaffe of California, Derek Evan Little of Maryland, Patricia Golden of Maryland and Kristen Pappano of Virginia.