John Charles Joyner

John Charles Joyner died peacefully at home on February 12, 2025. John was born October 2, 1939, in Florida, to Donald Pierce Joyner and Camille Crowley Joyner.

He grew up caddying at the Fort Lauderdale Golf and Country Club. John was also an Eagle Scout who served his country in the Army Reserves.

He attended University of Florida on a golf scholarship and received an Associate of Arts degree and graduated from Georgia State with a business degree. After graduating from Emory Law School in 1965, John began a 50-year law career, mostly as a wills and estate attorney in Decatur, Georgia. He mentored many young attorneys and served as President of the DeKalb Bar Association.

His many other community roles included founding member of the Decatur Education Foundation and board member of the Decatur Downtown Development Authority. He also chaired and advised local political campaigns, and was a multi-term deacon at First Baptist Church of Decatur and elder at Decatur Presbyterian Church. In 1997, he was honored as a Decatur Hometown Hero.

More than his many titles and positions, John was happiest in wide open spaces like Montana and the Appalachian Mountains. He was a skilled hunter and fly fisherman. Later in life he wrote and recited cowboy poetry and was featured in Georgia Cowboy Poets. Once he became a grandad, though, his four grandchildren became his reason for living.

He is survived by his wife, Marceil, his children, Jill Joyner(Mark Williams) and Mark Joyner(Jennifer), his four grandchildren, Tucker and Camille Bush, Natalie and Kate Joyner, his sister, Jane, and numerous nephews, nieces, grandnephews, grandnieces, and his beloved Crowley and Joyner cousins. A celebration of life will be held on Saturday, May 17, at 11 a.m. at Decatur Presbyterian Church and will be live-streamed. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Endowment Fund at Decatur Presbyterian Church.

Joyner, John Charles