In Memory: Joy LaDawn Hill-Watson, 49

Editor's note: the following obituary was obtained from Mack Eppinger & Sons Funeral Home.

Mrs. Joy LaDawn Hill-Watson, 49, of Cartersville, Georgia passed Monday, May 29, 2017. Funeral service will be held on Saturday, June 3, 2017 at 11 a.m. at Cartersville First Baptist Church, 241 Douthit Ferry Road, Cartersville, Ga. 30120.

The body will lie in state at the church from 10 a.m. until the hour of service. The family will receive friends on Friday, June 2, 2017, from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Mack Eppinger and Sons Funeral Home.

Joy LaDawn Hill-Watson was born March 19, 1968, in Rome, Georgia. She was the only child born to the union of Matthew Douglas Hill and June Carson Hill. She received her early education at Cloverleaf and Cartersville Elementary schools and graduated from Cartersville High School in 1986. She attended Tuskegee University, where she majored in English, was a Tuskegee cheerleader and sang soprano with the Tuskegee Golden Voices Choir.

She served as director of Noble Hill-Wheeler Memorial Center, the restored Rosenwald School that now serves as a museum showcasing Bartow County's black community. She was a devoted member of St. Luke A.M.E. Church, where she served as choir director and was a member of the Trustee Board. She continued the work of her father in overseeing the Soup Kitchen and the Annual Wild Feast during Black History Month.

Joy leaves to cherish her memory her husband, Ezell Watson; her loving mother, June Carson Hill and a host of relatives and friends.

Condolences may be expressed online. Mack Eppinger and Sons Funeral Service, Inc. are in charge of the arrangements.

Image via Mack Eppinger and Sons Funeral Home