Joyce Brooks McManious, 97, of Cumming, Ga., passed away October 14, 2023, at Northside Hospital Cherokee.
Mrs. McManious was born on January 1, 1926, in Phenix City, Al., to the late Reuben W. Brooks and Annie Franklin Brooks. She grew up in Phenix City, Al., with her sister and two brothers, and in 1946 married her husband of 41 years, James Earl McManious, a self-employed sheet metal fabricator, and they settled in Columbus, Ga. In 1965, Mrs. McManious, her husband and their two daughters moved to Waverly Hall, Ga., where they lived until his death in 1988. In 1990, Mrs. McManious relocated to a log cabin in the mountains of Blue Ridge, Ga., where she lived for 25 years. In 2015, Mrs. McManious relocated to Gainesville, Ga., where she met and married Dr. Allan W. Gurley, formerly of Cleveland, Ga., until his death in 2022. Mrs. McManious spent her life in faithful service to her family, her friends, her community and her church.
During her lifetime, she dedicated countless hours in volunteer service to her children's schools and various organizations and committees within her community and church, including the Woman's Club of Waverly Hall, Sunday School, the church choir, the Woman's Missionary Union and Awana. She possessed a great love for cooking and baking, making hundreds of batches of her famous chocolate fudge and tea cakes during her lifetime. She found great joy in being a homemaker and entertaining friends and family. She loved hiking, music, singing, storytelling and dancing, and she performed in Georgia's state historical drama, "The Reach of Song," for many years. In her 70s, she even learned to play the dulcimer. She was a devoted wife, mother, sister, aunt, grandmother, great-grandmother, friend, neighbor and sister in Christ who loved her family and friends deeply.
Mrs. McManious was preceded in death by her husbands, her parents, her sister, Georgia Laningham and her brother, Gene Brooks. She is survived by her daughters, Anne Warren (Neal) of Canton, Ga. and Cindy Dieckman (Julian) of Gainesville, Ga., and her brother, Gerald Brooks of Phenix City, Al. She is also survived by her 3 granddaughters and their spouses as well as 9 great-grandchildren, several nieces, nephews, extended family and many caring friends.
The family will receive friends from 10-11:30 am on Wednesday, October 25th at Darby Funeral Home in Canton. Funeral services will be held following the visitation at 11:30 am in the funeral home chapel with Brian Huffman officiating. Interment will follow at 1 pm at the Georgia National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, you are invited to make donations in her memory to the Friends of the Arts scholarship fund at Young Harris College.

The Funeral Service will be live-streamed at:
https://vimeo.com/event/3805161