Florence Joann Ivey

Florence Joann Ivey Surrounded by family in her home, Florence JoAnn Thompson Ivey passed peacefully in her sleep on Friday morning, 5 April 2024. A lifelong follower of Jesus Christ and devoted wife, mother, grandmother, and great grandmother, JoAnn is survived by her 3 children, Kathy (Michael), Greg (Pam), and Pam (Bill); her 6 grandchildren, Adriann, Mikee, Billy, Jonathan, Becca, and Rachel; and her 15 great grandchildren. She is preceded in death by her husband, Bill Ivey; her brothers, Billy and Donald; her son-in-law, Michael; and her grandson, Greg, Jr. Born on 24 April 1935 in Vincent, Alabama, near the mill village of Bon Air, JoAnn was raised by her biological uncle, Emerson Hollaway Thompson, and his wife, Lola Mae Minter Thompson. The couple had two sons of their own, Billy and Donald, who JoAnn adored and spoke highly of her entire life. From the time JoAnn was a little girl working full-time at the Danville Spinning Mill in Bon Air, where she would toil for 12 years, her heart’s desire was to one day have a big family to love and take care of, who would love her in return. Rather than allow a stolen childhood to embitter her, she vowed to be different: to leave the mill village and push her kids to go to school. After marrying and having babies of her own and living for a time in Michigan, JoAnn and her family eventually settled in Vinemont, Alabama, where she and her husband created a beautiful home together. JoAnn established a career for herself sewing specialty orders at Porter Mills in Cullman, Alabama and also working in the cafeteria in the Vinement School lunchroom. She was a longtime member of the former Clark Street Church of God in Cullman, where she both taught Sunday School and presided over the Ladies Ministries. JoAnn raised her family with Jesus at the center of it, making sure they were in church and in school every time the doors opened. JoAnn will be remembered for her unwavering devotion to Jesus Christ and her worn out and marked up Bibles; for being a loving wife, mother, grandmother, and great grandmother; for being unbelievably selfless, strong, and smart; for always having an open door and food in the oven; and for her flawless skin and never-dyed black hair. We will miss her prayers and wisdom, her sweet and gentle spirit, her warm hugs and sassy sense of humor, her birthday phone calls and thoughtful notes, and her home-cooked meals, but we know she’s finally found peace and healing in the arms of Jesus and that we’ll see her again. Funeral Services be at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, April 7, 2024, at Cullman Heritage Funeral Home with Danny Garrison officiating; burial at Cook Cemetery. Visitation will be from 1:00 p.m.-2:00 p.m. on Sunday, April 7, 2024 at Cullman Heritage Funeral Home.

Florence Joann Ivey

April 24, 1935 - April 5, 2024