Individual Details

Death

NEW ALBANY - Joyce Bonner Sumners of New Albany, Miss., and recently of Madison, Miss., died on Saturday, October 15, 2022, of the rigors of old age. She was 89. Visitation with the family is 10:30 a.m. to noon on Wednesday, October 19, 2022, at Wesley Hall of First United Methodist Church in New Albany. The funeral is at noon at the church. (A family graveside service at New Albany Cemetery will precede the funeral.) Sebrell Funeral Home, Ridgeland, Miss., is handling arrangements. Joyce was born in New Albany as the only child of the late Thomas Troy Bonner and Mary Wilson Sherrod Bonner. She moved with her family to Booneville her junior year in high school and graduated in 1951 from Booneville High School. She attended Millsaps College, Southwestern at Memphis (now Rhodes College), and Memphis State College. At Memphis she was Head Majorette. Joyce married New Albany lawyer Lester Furr Sumners on February 12, 1956. They made their home in New Albany for nearly 50 years until his death in December 2005. A lifelong member of First United Methodist Church of New Albany, Joyce is remembered for her 75 years of service as a member of the church choir; she first sang with the choir at age 10. She sang in innumerable weddings of her friends and their children. For many years church members looked forward to her a cappella rendition of the spiritual hymn "Sweet Little Jesus Boy" during Christmas Eve worship. Joyce was for fifty years the Union County blood drive coordinator, a passion driven in part by her survival of a melanoma as a young mother. She was also a founder of the Union County Hospital Auxiliary and for decades served patients and raised funds. She was a tireless advocate for the North Mississippi Symphony Orchestra and its performances in New Albany. In 2016, Union County/New Albany Initiative to Excel (UNITE, an affiliate of CREATE Foundation) named her the Citizen of the Year. An avid reader, Joyce was also an opera aficionado, tennis player, and bridge competitor. She enjoyed growing and arranging flowers and tended her own lawn and gardens. In 2020, she moved to St. Catherine's Village in Madison, Miss. Joyce is survived by her son Thomas Bonner Sumners and his wife Diana of Dunnellon, Fla.; her daughter Melinda Sumners Ray and her husband Steve of Jackson; her daughter Leslie Elizabeth Sumners of New Albany; and her nephew William Sumners Mayo and his wife Cherri of Oxford. Her grandchildren are Stacey Sumners Earnest of Lusk, Wyo.; Leslie Johns Ray of New Orleans; Cameron S. Ray of Austin, Tex.; and Molly Sumners Richardson of Eustis, Fla. Her great-grandchild is Hannah Grace Earnest. Her great-nephews are Bradley Dees Mayo and Rushton Gerity Mayo, both of Oxford. Memorials may be made to UNITE, P.O. Box 125, New Albany, MS 38652, or the University of Mississippi Foundation (for the Lester F. Sumners Memorial Scholarship in Law), 406 University Ave., Oxford, MS 38655.