Joan Bradley Harper's Obituary
Joan Bradley Harper of Powder Springs Georgia, age 78, passed away peacefully in her sleep at
home on Saturday, July 22nd, 2023. She was preceded in death by her parents, Lewis Tillman Bradley
Sr. and Annie Laurie Pye Bradley of Statesboro, Georgia, elder brothers George Paul “Guy” Bradley,
Lewis C. “Sam” Bradley, and Lewis Tillman Bradley Jr., elder sisters Ruth Hughes, Pearl “Pete”
Garvin, Betty Lord, and Faye Yarberry, as well as her husband, Garland Victor Harper, who passed in
2014.
She is survived by her three sons, Charles Tillman Harper, Leonard Wayne Harper, and
Matthew Zane Harper (Elizabeth), grandchildren Ravyn Harper, Zoe “Asher” Harper, and Zane Harper,
elder brother James Cecil Bradley, and numerous nieces, nephews, grandnieces, and grandnephews.
Joan was born in Statesboro, Georgia, on November 18th 1944. She grew up on a tobacco farm,
the youngest of 9, where her father sold tobacco to R.J. Reynolds. She attended Marvin Pittman High
school and Cosmetology school in Savannah, Georgia. She worked as a cosmetologist, and held a
Master Cosmetologist license until her death. In Savannah, she also met her beloved husband, Garland
Victor Harper. They were married in May of 1967 and moved to Northwest Georgia, eventually
residing in Powder Springs. This is where they reared their three sons, and she resided in Powder
Springs until her death.
She served in the church with great passion, serving in several capacities at both Calvary
Baptist Church of Austell and Powder Springs First Baptist Church. She taught hair cutting classes for
Cobb community schools in the mid-1980s. She worked at several beauty parlors during her career, and
had a brief tenure in the billing department at Corporate Express.
Family was the cornerstone of Joan’s life. She loved being a wife and mother, she loved being
an Oma (grandmother), she loved being an aunt, and she loved being a friend. Her entire family and all
of her friends will agree she had a kind, generous, and loving nature.
Anyone who met Joan was greeted with warmth and love, and would never forget her. She was
an incredible force of life, showing others the utmost grace and Christlike love, the evidence of a heart
filled with Christ and her unwavering faith in his finished work on the cross.
She knew how to have a great time and how to make anybody laugh in any situation. She
believed that in any situation, love would see us through it, and she lived by that philosophy. She was
the life of the party, an advocate for those in need, and a bright light in a dark world.
Matthew 25:23
“Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make
thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.”
A memorial service will be held on August 12th at 1:30 PM at Calvary Baptist Church in the Sanctuary, located at 4780 Flint Hill Rd, Austell, GA 30106. The family will receive friends at 12:30 PM at the church before the service.
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