Virginia Roy Joy BRAGG

Virginia Roy 'Joy' Bragg died peacefully Sunday, March 4, 2012. Joy Bragg was born September 19, 1922 in McMinnville, TN, daughter of the late John Roy and Chloe Adcock Bragg. Miss Bragg was a student in the McMinnville City School system and graduated from McMinnville Central High School in 1941. She earned her Bachelor?s and Master?s degrees from Middle Tennessee State Teachers College in Murfreesboro, TN. She taught English and Drama in the Warren County School System for nearly half a century, influencing the lives of generations of students. As a polio victim in 1933 at age 10, her father sent her to Warm Springs, GA as one of the early patients of that remarkable Foundation started by the late President Franklin D. Roosevelt where she was to meet and play water polo with the President, once getting beaned on the head by him. After her polio affliction, Miss Bragg never recovered her ability to walk and spent the rest of her life in a wheel chair. But she enthusiastically entered the teaching profession and was beloved for her courage and her understanding of young people. Miss Bragg was a member of the Central Church of Christ, the Masonic Order of the Eastern Star, the Tennessee Education Association and the National Education Association. She is survived by brother, John A. Bragg of Franklin, TN; niece, Rebecca Bragg McNamee (Marc) of Nashville, TN; great nephew, David Bragg McNamee (Elizabeth) of New Haven, CT; great niece, Jane Crane McNamee of Charleston, SC and many beloved cousins. Graveside services were held at 1:00 p.m. Wednesday at Mt. View Cemetery in McMinnville, TN. Coy Hathcock officiated. Honorary pall bearers were Anne Clark Foster, David Bragg, Marc McNamee, Thomas Perkins Bragg, II, David Standiford, Barry Lapidus, John H. Scott, Bill Zechman, Dennie Swah, Billy Lively, Kenneth Pedigo, Martha Buckner, Lucia Cordell Getsi and Ellen Hillis Finney. The family request memorials be made to the charity of one?s choice but hope consideration be made to Magness Memorial Library c/o High's.