Joyce Brown

Joyce Avery Brown of Cumming, Ga., passed away peacefully at
home with her two daughters by her side on April 2, 2024.
A native of Cornelia, Ga., Joyce was born 94 years ago, on January 22, 1930, to James Avery and Estelle Avery Brownlow. She
graduated from the Georgia School for the Deaf at age 16 and
attended Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., where she was a
member of Phi Kappa Zeta sorority.
She married the love of her life, Walter Brown, on October 18, 1947.
Together they raised their two daughters, Versie and Debbie, and enjoyed a wonderful family life that took them from Phenix City, Ala., and Columbus, Ga., to Atlanta and then to Washington, D.C., and Ocean View, Delaware, before returning to Georgia in retirement.
Joyce's professional life began at the Trust Company of Georgia and continued at Gallaudet, where she was the senior admissions specialist, retiring in 1994.
She served as a board member for the Georgia Association of the Deaf, the Deaf Seniors of America, the Deaf Seniors of Georgia and the National Association of the Deaf.
One of the great joys of Joyce's life, in addition to her family, was traveling the world with friends. Over the years she visited 32 countries, including the Soviet Union, Great Britain, Japan and Germany.
She also enjoyed family vacations in the U.S. to such places as the Great Smoky Mountains and Cape Hatteras, N.C. In addition, she was an avid painter of landscapes and other settings.
Joyce was preceded in death by her husband Walter in 2008.
She is survived by her sister, Jimmie Maner of Albany, Ga.; her two
daughters, Versie Brown of Cumming and Debbie (Mark) of Louisville, Ky.; five grandchildren, Kim Hurst and Daphne Allred, both of New Orleans, Jennifer Collier (Julian) of Great Falls, Va., Matthew Provano (Jennifer) of Lexington, Ky., and A-J Muldowney (Jeanne) of Newnan, Ga.; sisters- in-law Martha Tillery and Margaret Dansby, both of Columbus, Ga.; eight great-grandchildren and many nieces and nephews.
We would like to thank her hospice nurses, Pat & Danita of Gentiva Hospice for their patience, and kindness and loving care for her.
A private memorial service will be held at a later date.
The family requests that expressions of sympathy, should take the form of donations to the Crusselle Freeman Church of the Deaf, P.O. Box 11286, Atlanta, Ga. 30310.