Joanie Williams

Joanie Williams, age 65 of Jonesboro, passed away peacefully at home on October 27 after a 27-month battle with glioblastoma brain cancer. Born to the late Creed & Gayle Nelms, Joanie was a 1975 graduate of Brookland High School where she was a cheerleader, honor student and a state champion in volleyball and badminton. She was the youngest of nine children.

She married Joe Williams in 1975 at Brookland Baptist Church after a one-year courtship.  Beginning her work career at the former Happy Burger on Nettleton Avenue, she moved into the retail industry and managed shoe stores for Bell Brother, Foot Scene and Journeys in the former Indian Mall in Jonesboro.  She was promoted to district and regional management jobs with Journeys, supervising stores from St. Louis to Paducah, New Orleans, Texarkana & Joplin. Upon retirement, she became the registrar and office manager for the Delta Region of USA Volleyball, successfully working to advance the sport of volleyball across three states. She founded the Region High-Performance Camp, bringing together the best players in three states and created initiatives that resulted in the Delta Region consistently being one of the fastest-growing Regions in the USA.  She was a true volleyball celebrity and people would gleefully hug her when they finally met her in person.

Along with her husband Joe and the late Joe Thomas, they founded the Arkansas Junior Olympic Volleyball program in 1984.  As the first junior volleyball club in the Midsouth, they enjoyed the success of the sport in northeast Arkansas and participated in hundreds of national & regional volleyball events.  Nearly 200 players from the program enjoyed college volleyball careers.  Joanie took pride in coaching some of the youngest players and was able to watch many of them become coaches themselves. Most of her former players became lifetime friends.

Joanie was a longtime member of Temple Baptist Church in Jonesboro and launched a Hospitality Ministry to welcome visitors and new members to Temple.  Many of the people she recruited into the ministry were people wanting to find a place to serve.   Today, many of those serve the Church in leadership positions themselves and continue to show the Christ-like love Joanie exhibited.  She and Joe enjoyed the fellowship of the H.I.S. (Hallelujah I’m Saved) life group, who continued to faithfully minister to our family throughout her illness.

On her 45 ^th wedding anniversary, Joanie first experienced symptoms of the deadly tumors that eventually took her life.  Her medical care for the next 27 months was a collaboration of exceptional Arkansas health care workers including the ER staff at St. Bernards, Drs. Ray Hall, Kevin Collins, Jason Brandt and Scott Dorroh at NEA Baptist, neurosurgeon Dr. Ali Krisht at Arkansas Neuroscience Institute, and Drs. Jamie Burton and Xiang Gao at CARTI. She endured four craniotomies and multiple rounds of infusions, chemo and radiation and extended her survival far beyond the normal outcome for glioblastoma. Her home health care team at Extended Family Enterprises and St. Bernards Home Hospice and Super V Pharmacy allowed her to comfortably remain at home until the end.  CNA’s Edna Moore and Patricia McDaniel and RN’s Brenda Wright & Shayna Parker provided exceptional care.

She was preceded in death by her parents Creed Nelms & Gayle Nall Nelms, two sisters: Janice (Will) Hughes of St. Mary’s MO and Carin (Bo) Johnson of Brookland.  Her survivors including Joe Williams, her husband of 47 years and her three cats, 17-year-old Cissy & Sandi & 10-year-old Spike.  Her surviving siblings are Randy (Jan) Nelms and Ed (Sara) Nelms of Jonesboro, Phyllis (Tom) Hancock of Bay, Sue (the late Dennis) Manley of Brookland, Rodger (Sandy) Nelms of Hot Springs Village and Ben (Nina) Nelms of Oklahoma City.  Also surviving are her goddaughter Jenny (Carey) Lingenfelter and their children Thayden & Denyka of Fayetteville.  She was blessed with a special family that produced 21 nieces & nephews. When combined with Joe’s extended family, they had about 150 total nieces & nephews.  Holidays & celebrations were always a family affair.

Joanie’s three passions in life included her relationship with God through her church, her massive family, and thousands of volleyball friends. A close fourth were her San Antonio Spurs and her love for all things shopping. She and her sisters were legends for their marathon overnight Black Friday shopping trips.

Joanie was a Bible believer who knew that God had made a place for her, and she left this life without fear, surrounded by those she loved.

A celebration of Joanie’s life will be held at 2:00 p.m. Monday, October 31 in the sanctuary of Temple Baptist Church, 2834 Race Street, Jonesboro with Andy Neal officiating.  Family visitation will begin on Sunday, October 30, 2022 at 4:00 p.m. for family at the Temple Baptist gym with regular visitation from 5:00-7:00 p.m. Emerson Funeral Home will oversee arrangements. In lieu of flowers, you may consider your favorite charity in her name or Temple Baptist Church, 2834 Race Street, Jonesboro, Arkansas 72401; St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, 501 ST. Jude Place, Memphis, Tennessee, 38105; St. Bernards Foundation, 400 East Street, Jonesboro, Arkansas 72401; or the NEA Baptist Charitable Foundation, P.O. Box 1960 Jonesboro, Arkansas, 72403.