John Charles Joyner died peacefully at home on February 12, 2025.  This was the final goodbye of the long goodbye of many years due to his vascular dementia. He was a big man in stature and in personality and will not soon be forgotten. His community benefitted from his many benevolent contributions and his sense of humor. He was born October 2, 1939, in Florida, to Donald Pierce Joyner and Camille Crowley Joyner, he was their firstborn and his nickname was Johnny. Johnny was big brother to Dixie and Jane and became their guardian, protector and was always the annoying big brother.

Always a hard worker, John began as a young boy riding with his dad in the ice truck delivering ice to homes in Ft. Lauderdale and biking through his paper routes.  As an active member of the Boy Scouts, John earned the highest honor of Eagle Scout. At age 12, he began working as a golf caddy at the Fort Lauderdale Golf and Country Club and became a proficient golfer at Ft. Lauderdale High School seeded number one in his junior and senior years. He would go on to play at the University of Florida on a golf scholarship and graduate from the University of Florida with his Associates degree and later earning his Bachelor’s degree from Georgia State University. He served his country in the Army Reserves.

John graduated from Emory Law School in 1965 and began a 50 year career in law, most of it as a wills and estate attorney in Decatur, Georgia. John Joyner was not afraid to have difficult conversations with his clients about their eventual deaths and planning for those deaths. He was always an encourager for many young attorneys never thinking of them as competition, but as colleagues. He served as President of the DeKalb Bar and was on the board of the Decatur-DeKalb Estate Planning Council and lectured around the state on estate planning and law. He was also a DeKalb County Conservator for decades.

He served on the board of the Jaycees, was a founding member of the Decatur Education Foundation and the Endowment Committee at Decatur Presbyterian Church and served many years on the Decatur Downtown Development Authority. He was honored as a Decatur Hometown Hero in 1997 and enjoyed being a member of the Decatur Business Association for decades. He served numerous terms as a deacon at First Baptist Church of Decatur and as an elder at Decatur Presbyterian Church. He was involved in local politics as a campaign manager and advisor to campaigns. He believed in community and that communities improved with involvement.

John lived in cities all of his life, but his soul was happiest in wide open spaces like Montana and the Appalachian Mountains. He was a skilled hunter and fly fisherman. He loved to teach others about hunting and fishing and how to navigate in the outdoors. It was his time in Montana, later in life where he began to explore writing cowboy poetry. He was a featured poet in Georgia Cowboy Poets and released a CD of his poetry as well. He wrote and recited cowboy poetry prolifically until he could no longer remember his poetry by heart.

He was devoted to his wife of 59 years, Marceil, and his children, Jill and Mark. He was actively involved in parenting in the 1970s which was a novelty back then. He attended sporting events of Mark’s and ballet recitals of Jill. He took his family on camping vacations, trips to Montana, the beach, and all over the United States. Not only was John an attorney, but he was a Renaissance man. His hobbies were endless, he developed software for attorneys when software was a new thing. He was an avid runner and member of the YMCA, serving as chair of their board. He became a semi-professional poker player, community advocate, studied and practiced meditation, was a woodworker, and had a brief obsession with baking sourdough biscuits. Once he became a granddad, his four grandchildren became his reason for living. He spent as much time with them as he could and later in life, they would come visit, text and call him with updates.

His greatest legacy to his family and friends was his sense of humor, his storytelling and his counsel on all aspects of our lives, whether solicited or not. He could weave a yarn and tell jokes to keep an individual or an audience engaged for hours. He recognized adversity and encouraged those to rise above their circumstances and to see their capabilities.

The family owes their deepest gratitude to John’s caregivers, Kenneth and Wesley, and to Family Hospice. John leaves behind hundreds of friends and family, his devoted wife, Marceil, his children, Jill (Mark Williams) and Mark (Jennifer), his four grandchildren, Tucker, Camille, Natalie, and Kate, 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.