Joe Ann Aldred

Taylor Funeral Home and Cremation Care of Louisville announces the death and services of Mrs. Joe Ann McKenzie Aldred, 85, loving wife and mother, who entered Heaven on Wednesday, September 2, 2026, at her home in the loving arms of her girls.

Joe Ann McKenzie Aldred was born May 21, 1941, to her parents Joe Lewis McKenzie and Thelma Willie Frost McKenzie. When she was 11, Joe Ann met the love of her life Ruben Edward “Junior” Aldred, Jr. who at the time was working for her father. She told a family friend named Uncle Charlie he was the ugliest thing she had ever seen and when she was 15, they were married on September 1, 1956.

Joe Ann had her 1st daughter, Peggy Sue in March of 1958, her daughter Bobbie Jean was born in September of 1960. Her daughter Thelma Bernice was born in November of 1962, and her daughter Joanna was born in July of 1964.

Joe Ann worked at Lichtenstein’s department store as a young teenager. She went to work at Thermo King Corporation in Louisville, Georgia in 1964 and stayed there until being placed on disability with health issues in 1975.

Joe Ann lived at University Hospital for most of her two younger children's first 12 years of life, and they often joked of having her address changed to University Hospital Augusta, Georgia. Her devoted husband, Junior, as she called him, would work all day at Thermo King, come home, check on the girls and go spend the night with Joe Ann at the hospital. In 1970, Joe Ann lost a 5th child to a miscarriage, and she always wondered if she ever had a son. I'm sure she now knows and is with her son or daughter in heaven.

Joe Ann lost her father Joe Lewis in 1970 and her mom Thelma Willie in 1998 and she never forgot them. I know she is rejoicing with her dad and her mom in heaven today. Joe Ann cared for both of her parents before they passed away and mourned them almost daily.

In October of 2004, Joe Ann’s love of her life, her husband, Junior, passed away at the age of 65 with lung cancer and Joe Ann missed him every day since. She was reunited when he came to bring her to Heaven's gates, and they shall never be apart again. In 2010, her brother, Billy Ray McKenzie, passed away and she could hardly get through his passing. Today, her and Billy are catching up on old times and making new memories. In January of 2017, she got a phone call from her daughter, Peggy Sue, telling her that her firstborn grandson, Lawrence Thomas Forrest, III, had been killed in a motor vehicle wreck on his way to the police academy and her heart and Peggy’s were eternally broken. In September of 2025, Joe Ann had to do what every parent doesn't want to do when she buried her firstborn, Peggy Sue, and she wept for her daily.

Six months after her daughter passed away, she grew tired of numerous doctors' visits that kept her and her youngest daughter, Joanna, on the road back and forth to Thompson to see her primary care, and to Augusta, to cardiologist, nephrologist, and neurologist. She told Joanna she was tired and wanted to stay at home - no more doctors’ visits and no more long road trips. She was previously diagnosed with stage four kidney failure and placed with Crescent Hospice in Augusta. Her nurse, Nadine, came to see her that same day, March 6, 2026, and she was admitted to hospice care. Her nurse Nadine, her aide Gabby, and Chaplains, Nontrell and Cliff became frequent visitors spending time with her. Joe Ann didn't like the idea of company, but after just a couple of visits, they became her family. She hated to see them leave and was glad every time they opened her door. She had been sick and homebound for years, they showed up when she needed them, and for that, they became her girls.

As her kidneys began to shut down, and her confusion turned to hallucinations, Joe Ann wandered outside and fell on her concrete garage floor, where she broke her hip. Not being a candidate for surgery, her four girls, and her bonus girls, Nadine and Gabby began comfort measures. In her final days, she was surrounded by her family until the end and was never alone. She is now in eternity with her husband, Junior, her mom and daddy, her two children, Peggy and her baby, her grandson, Todd, and all of the others that have gone on before. She will never again be alone. She will never know pain. She has a new body, and is roaming through the streets of heaven, celebrating her Lord, her homecoming and family reunion.

Joe Ann is survived by her three daughters, Joanna & Bill Hattaway, Bobbie Jean & Randy Newsome, Thelma & Kenny Watkins, her sister Betty Sue Stavely, and her son in law Barry Wood. Her grandchildren, Corey & Valerie Forrest, Nate Newsome, Randy & Hannah Newsome, Ken & Jenna Watkins, Amy & Richard Cooper, David & Ashley Watkins, and Michael & Maggie Watkins. Several great grandchildren, Trevor, McKenzie Ann, and Edward James Forrest; Lane, Riley, and McKenlee Ann Watkins; Landon and Alison Cooper; Mila, Isla, and Lincoln Watkins; Harper Watkins; bonus grands Ellie and Levi; Isaiah; Lizzie and Jared, and several nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Edward “Junior” Aldred, her parents Joe Lewis and Thelma Willie McKenzie, her brothers Billy Ray McKenzie and Gainer Price Jr., her children Peggy Sue Wood and her unknown baby, and her grandson Lawrence Thomas Forrest, III.

Joe Ann loved all of her family, especially her four girls, Joanna, Peggy, Bobbie Jean, and Thelma. She loved her family with all her heart and will be greatly missed by all who loved her.

Joe Ann will be laid to rest on Saturday, September 5, 2026, at 2:00 in the afternoon at the church her family founded, Old Bethel Baptist Church in Bartow, GA. The family will receive friends one hour prior to the service and burial will follow in the Parker’s Cemetery, also in Bartow, GA. Pallbearers will be her grandsons - Edward, Ken, Randy, and her son-in-law, Bill. Honorary Pallbearers are her other grandsons and sons in law. Services will be officiated by Corey Forrest.

Her family will be gathering at her home 1469 Hwy 221 S, Bartow, GA.

Taylor Funeral Home and Cremation Care of Louisville is in charge of arrangements.