Joyce Ann Petty Leatherwood was born on June 14, 1950, in Canandaigua, New York, and passed away peacefully on Sunday morning January 9, 2022, in Rock Hill, SC. Joyce will be remembered as a person who was ALWAYS on the go. Whether it was for a creative project, working on the family tree of her many ancestors and extended family members, her career, her beloved family, her plans to travel or the many charitable activities she supported to assist those in need, she had tenacity and just pure love for all of it. Whether it be for Samaritan’s Purse working for children on her favorite “Shoe Box Project”, or donating her time or needed items to shelters or Churches, she was always the one who sincerely felt: “How can I help in at least some small way?”
She was very tech savvy and eagerly taught herself the newest technologies and applications, and was the go-to person to solve technical issues, for her family, friends and colleagues. She was always curious about the latest software and how it would assist those she worked with or supported in her career.
She spent many of her adult years in Hawaii, a place that she loved. Her first stay was when she was a young newlywed with her new family. Then again in her later years on her second “tour “, she grew to love it even more even after moving back to the mainland to be closer to her daughter and their family she would sport a MuuMuu, and it was her favorite fashion expression. It was her emphatic request to be dressed in one for her final outfit on earth. Every Christmas she’d enthusiastically sing “Mele Kalikimaka” by Composer Robert Alexander Anderson. Joyce was a lover of life, of Holidays, reunions and get-togethers, initiating and organizing several gatherings.
She was a quick study, had a practical mind and was always committed to doing her best, her utmost, for whatever she was working on with unwavering dedication to serving and caring for others. All who know her also know of her love for learning. She attended college as an older student, graduating at age 60 from York Technical College with her Associates Degree in Office Technology with Paralegal Specialization. She spent her career doing what she loved, being a trusted and top notch Executive Administrative Assistant/Office Manager, proudly working with Haskell Company for the last 13+ years of her 48-year career in the Engineering and Construction Development industries. She was scheduled to retire in January, 2022.
She was an active leader of the IAAP foundation, serving as treasurer and president for several years. Many people relied on her to plan and organize conferences, continuing educational courses and conferences. She loved volunteering, encouraging and supporting all those she met in life, and seeing the best in everyone. She mastered sign language, spoke Hawaiian and lived here life with a positive attitude of gratitude, treasuring the little things and adoring her grandchildren.
Joyce leaves behind her daughter Virginia (Gini) Nichols and her husband, Nick of Savannah, Georgia; her grandchildren Brittney Pegram and Niko Nichols; her siblings Sarah Petty and Charley Petty and many, many nieces, nephews and cousins who love her and who will miss her inspiring efforts to get people to connect. She was preceded in death by her mother Dorothy English Petty; her father George Petty; her brother Andrew Petty and sister Florence Petty.
We will miss her thoughtfulness, her example to keep looking on the sunny side and her choice to speak kindly of and be helpful to others. We have benefited from her adventurous spirit, her love of family, her seemingly endless resilience, and her commitment to keep her relationship with God her loving Father as her top priority.
A private family graveside funeral service will be held at 2:00 p.m., Friday, January 21, 2022 at Greenwich Cemetery, 330 Bonaventure Road, Savannah, Georgia 31404.
Joyce requested that memorial tributes be made in lieu of flowers in honor of being a Cancer Survivor herself, in the form of a charitable donations to Telfair Mammography Fund: https://www.sjchs.org/foundations/donate/donate-to-the-telfair-mammography-fund
Published by Baker McCullough Funeral Home – Hubert C. Baker Chapel on Jan. 15, 2022.