Joann D. Lewis Thompson Blair. Tuesday, June 15, 2021. Survived by devoted family; children, Eleanor Lewis (Chester) Blair, Ralph (Machelle) Thompson, Robert Blair, Jeffery Blair, Sr., Patricia Blair, Patrice (Brice) Cheatham; grandchildren, Jamal (LaTonya) Blair, Tanesha (DeAndre) Mundy, Quinton (Brittany) Thompson, Essence Blair, Ebonee Hill, Whitney Blair, Fanniqua Moore, Jeffery Blair, Jr., Justin Blair, Sydnee Blair, Marcus Campbell, Carmen (Shaon) Cheatham; 20 great-grandchildren; nephew, Ronald Stewart, Sr.; brothers-in-law, Donald and Ronald (Theresa) Blair; sisters-in-law, Dorothy Graham and Delores Lenox; a host of devoted nieces, nephews, other relatives, friends, devoted friends Steve and Kaye George & Family and the Cummins Street Church of Christ Family.
Mrs. Blair will lie-in-state, Wednesday, June 23, 2021 from 11:00 AM – 4:00 PM at Waters Funeral Home, Inc., 1408 Columbia Avenue, Franklin, TN 37064
Visitation with the family Wednesday, June 23, 2021 from 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM at Cummins Street Church of Christ, 511 Cummins Street, Franklin, TN 37064.
Family visitation Thursday, June 24, 2021 from 11:00 AM - 12:00 Noon with funeral services immediately following at Cummins Street Church of Christ. Brother Ricardo Morgan, Minister, Cummins Street Church of Christ, Officiant; Brother Burnes Lyons, Minister, Northside Church of Christ, Eulogist.
Interment Middle Tennessee Veterans Cemetery, Pegram, TN.
Floral expressions and memorial contributions to the Susan G. Komen Central Tennessee foundation in honor of our beloved are welcome.
Send flowers to the service of Joann D. Lewis Thompson Blair
---
Blair's life shaped by faith, hope and love
By Pam Horne • Managing Editor Jan 22, 2015 Updated Dec 1, 2015 0
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At a young age, Joann Lewis Blair witnessed people helping friends and family cope with tough life situations.
As a teen growing up in Nashville in the 1940s, she watched her mother struggle to take care of her sick father.
When her father's health worsened, Blair's much older sister, Bessie, was willing to support their family through the stress.
At the time, Blair was enrolled in one of Nashville's segregated high schools.
Her sister's offer of support meant withdrawing from Meigs High School, leaving her parents and moving to live with Bessie in Dayton, Ohio.
She went from an all-black high school to a racially integrated one.
When Blair returned to Nashville a couple of year later, she proudly held her Roosevelt High School diploma, but it was the confidence born of surviving a rough patch that stayed with her.
Easy isn't always possible
In segregated Nashville, she took a job as a maid at the Baltimore Hotel and met her first husband.
Blair was, once again, challenged by hardship. Her marriage quickly devolved into a volatile relationship.
Left with few options, she faced the difficulty of divorce in the 1950s, not an easy experience during that era, she admits.
But once again, her family stood with her.
It was during this struggle that she moved back home with her parents to her childhood neighborhood and met the love of her life.
Joe Blair and Joann Lewis Blair had actually grown up in the same neighborhood in North Nashville, even worshipped at the same church as youngsters.
"We were neighborhood kids. The Blairs lived on 7th and we lived on 6th Street," she recalls. "We both went to Cleveland Street Baptist."
The childhood friends found instant compatibility, the kind that produces a long and fruitful marriage.
Fresh start, new city
When the Blairs married they decided to look for a community outside Nashville to raise their young family.
In the post-World War II years when veterans were coming home and establishing families, housing was scarce in Franklin.
Finding a place to live was a challenge, but Joann and Joe Blair learned the depth of family support when Joe's sister, Vivian Gosey, extended a very personal invitation to the Blairs to temporarily share her family home.
That single act of kindness allowed the Blairs to move to Franklin in an era when racial segregation still persisted in the South, but was giving way to a new way of life.
The couple came to Franklin in the late 1950s. Joann has fond memories of those early days, and much of it, she says, is due to strong relationships.
The Blair home was always a place that kids and relatives knew was open and inviting, as she took up the role of being "neighborhood mom" to many beyond her own children.
Family and faith
While her husband Joe commuted to Nashville to work for Neely Harwell Hardware, the small business owned by the fathe-in-law of Tennessee's Speaker of the House, Beth Harwell, Joann Blair stayed home with the couple's children.
They attended local schools — Johnson Elementary, Franklin Elementary and Franklin Junior High — before ultimately graduating from Franklin High School.
This respected mother, grandmother and great-grandmother shares that she has always felt welcome in Franklin.
"I was surrounded by family and we are very family-oriented people," she says, stressing that her world revolved around a close-knit community of church and neighbors.
"I was introduced to Cummins Street Church (of Christ) by my sister-in-law Vivian."
It was, Joann says, the spiritual guidance of longtime minister Brother Curtis Cathey, who died in 2000 that strengthened her faith in God.
"I've always been involved in (Cummins Street). In the beginning I taught kids — 10- and 11-year-olds."
When her daughters became teenagers, Blair joined with three church friends -- Betty Patterson, Helen Kinnard and Esther Wilson -- to train and mentor young girls at Cummins Street.
"We would have cooking classes and sewing classes, offering things to help bring them up as young ladies."
"I really appreciate being able to be in classes with those kids," Blair reflects, adding that watching them grow to become mature women, who are now married and raising kids, has brought her tremendous joy.
"I've seen them transformed from a caterpillar to a wonderful butterfly," says Blair, who has undoubtedly become a matriarch in her community of faith, family and friends.
"It makes you really glad to know you had a little part in their life while they were coming up."
Tending to the needs of others
At 80 years old, Blair continues to share with others the wisdom and strength she has gained from hardship.
In recent years, she has tackled breast cancer and is a two-time survivor who is also dedicated to educating women on prevention.
Blair's passion is definitely reaching out to those in need.
Today, her ministry involves feeding the sick and elderly on the second Saturday of every month, providing plate dinners for 60 people through Cummins Street Church of Christ.
Leading a Bible study for ladies in her church has also been a priority for Blair.
But her ministry also goes beyond the walls of Cummins Street to young ladies incarcerated at the Williamson County jail.
It is there that she says she meets with the most vulnerable women she knows.
Blair, along with three other church members, regularly visit women who find themselves in trouble, offering a Bible study for anyone wishing to participate.
The support and encouragement she has received for 56 years from her husband is what has made much of her outreach possible, but also the natural love she has for others.
So, it's not surprising that her 80th birthday was a milestone her husband and children wanted to mark with celebration.
Joann and Joe Blair's six children, Eleanor, Ralph, Robert, Jeffrey, Patricia and Patrice, are all very close and have supplied the couple with numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Lasting memories
Her first year as an octogenarian has been busy; she and her husband recently moved into a new home in Franklin after decades living on Fowlkes Street.
But Joann Blair, a two-time breast cancer survivor, community volunteer and mentor to many, still handles stress with certainty and faith.
The Blairs celebrated the holidays with a house full of family, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
"I just take it one day at a time, so far I've been blessed," Blair says of her life.
It is time with family that she most longs for, especially when she gets wishes like the one her great-grandchild Jayden, 12, penned to her on her 80th birthday.
Among the personal notes handwritten on a giant handcrafted birthday card is Jayden's wish — "I hope you live to be in triple digits."
With the spirit of faith, hope and love that this longtime Franklin resident extends to others, there will certainly be many more people blessed if Jayden gets his wish.
williamsonherald.com - By Pam Horne • Managing Editor Jan 22, 2015 Updated Dec 1, 2015
Mrs. Blair will lie-in-state, Wednesday, June 23, 2021 from 11:00 AM – 4:00 PM at Waters Funeral Home, Inc., 1408 Columbia Avenue, Franklin, TN 37064
Visitation with the family Wednesday, June 23, 2021 from 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM at Cummins Street Church of Christ, 511 Cummins Street, Franklin, TN 37064.
Family visitation Thursday, June 24, 2021 from 11:00 AM - 12:00 Noon with funeral services immediately following at Cummins Street Church of Christ. Brother Ricardo Morgan, Minister, Cummins Street Church of Christ, Officiant; Brother Burnes Lyons, Minister, Northside Church of Christ, Eulogist.
Interment Middle Tennessee Veterans Cemetery, Pegram, TN.
Floral expressions and memorial contributions to the Susan G. Komen Central Tennessee foundation in honor of our beloved are welcome.
Send flowers to the service of Joann D. Lewis Thompson Blair
---
Blair's life shaped by faith, hope and love
By Pam Horne • Managing Editor Jan 22, 2015 Updated Dec 1, 2015 0
1 of 4
Save
At a young age, Joann Lewis Blair witnessed people helping friends and family cope with tough life situations.
As a teen growing up in Nashville in the 1940s, she watched her mother struggle to take care of her sick father.
When her father's health worsened, Blair's much older sister, Bessie, was willing to support their family through the stress.
At the time, Blair was enrolled in one of Nashville's segregated high schools.
Her sister's offer of support meant withdrawing from Meigs High School, leaving her parents and moving to live with Bessie in Dayton, Ohio.
She went from an all-black high school to a racially integrated one.
When Blair returned to Nashville a couple of year later, she proudly held her Roosevelt High School diploma, but it was the confidence born of surviving a rough patch that stayed with her.
Easy isn't always possible
In segregated Nashville, she took a job as a maid at the Baltimore Hotel and met her first husband.
Blair was, once again, challenged by hardship. Her marriage quickly devolved into a volatile relationship.
Left with few options, she faced the difficulty of divorce in the 1950s, not an easy experience during that era, she admits.
But once again, her family stood with her.
It was during this struggle that she moved back home with her parents to her childhood neighborhood and met the love of her life.
Joe Blair and Joann Lewis Blair had actually grown up in the same neighborhood in North Nashville, even worshipped at the same church as youngsters.
"We were neighborhood kids. The Blairs lived on 7th and we lived on 6th Street," she recalls. "We both went to Cleveland Street Baptist."
The childhood friends found instant compatibility, the kind that produces a long and fruitful marriage.
Fresh start, new city
When the Blairs married they decided to look for a community outside Nashville to raise their young family.
In the post-World War II years when veterans were coming home and establishing families, housing was scarce in Franklin.
Finding a place to live was a challenge, but Joann and Joe Blair learned the depth of family support when Joe's sister, Vivian Gosey, extended a very personal invitation to the Blairs to temporarily share her family home.
That single act of kindness allowed the Blairs to move to Franklin in an era when racial segregation still persisted in the South, but was giving way to a new way of life.
The couple came to Franklin in the late 1950s. Joann has fond memories of those early days, and much of it, she says, is due to strong relationships.
The Blair home was always a place that kids and relatives knew was open and inviting, as she took up the role of being "neighborhood mom" to many beyond her own children.
Family and faith
While her husband Joe commuted to Nashville to work for Neely Harwell Hardware, the small business owned by the fathe-in-law of Tennessee's Speaker of the House, Beth Harwell, Joann Blair stayed home with the couple's children.
They attended local schools — Johnson Elementary, Franklin Elementary and Franklin Junior High — before ultimately graduating from Franklin High School.
This respected mother, grandmother and great-grandmother shares that she has always felt welcome in Franklin.
"I was surrounded by family and we are very family-oriented people," she says, stressing that her world revolved around a close-knit community of church and neighbors.
"I was introduced to Cummins Street Church (of Christ) by my sister-in-law Vivian."
It was, Joann says, the spiritual guidance of longtime minister Brother Curtis Cathey, who died in 2000 that strengthened her faith in God.
"I've always been involved in (Cummins Street). In the beginning I taught kids — 10- and 11-year-olds."
When her daughters became teenagers, Blair joined with three church friends -- Betty Patterson, Helen Kinnard and Esther Wilson -- to train and mentor young girls at Cummins Street.
"We would have cooking classes and sewing classes, offering things to help bring them up as young ladies."
"I really appreciate being able to be in classes with those kids," Blair reflects, adding that watching them grow to become mature women, who are now married and raising kids, has brought her tremendous joy.
"I've seen them transformed from a caterpillar to a wonderful butterfly," says Blair, who has undoubtedly become a matriarch in her community of faith, family and friends.
"It makes you really glad to know you had a little part in their life while they were coming up."
Tending to the needs of others
At 80 years old, Blair continues to share with others the wisdom and strength she has gained from hardship.
In recent years, she has tackled breast cancer and is a two-time survivor who is also dedicated to educating women on prevention.
Blair's passion is definitely reaching out to those in need.
Today, her ministry involves feeding the sick and elderly on the second Saturday of every month, providing plate dinners for 60 people through Cummins Street Church of Christ.
Leading a Bible study for ladies in her church has also been a priority for Blair.
But her ministry also goes beyond the walls of Cummins Street to young ladies incarcerated at the Williamson County jail.
It is there that she says she meets with the most vulnerable women she knows.
Blair, along with three other church members, regularly visit women who find themselves in trouble, offering a Bible study for anyone wishing to participate.
The support and encouragement she has received for 56 years from her husband is what has made much of her outreach possible, but also the natural love she has for others.
So, it's not surprising that her 80th birthday was a milestone her husband and children wanted to mark with celebration.
Joann and Joe Blair's six children, Eleanor, Ralph, Robert, Jeffrey, Patricia and Patrice, are all very close and have supplied the couple with numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Lasting memories
Her first year as an octogenarian has been busy; she and her husband recently moved into a new home in Franklin after decades living on Fowlkes Street.
But Joann Blair, a two-time breast cancer survivor, community volunteer and mentor to many, still handles stress with certainty and faith.
The Blairs celebrated the holidays with a house full of family, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
"I just take it one day at a time, so far I've been blessed," Blair says of her life.
It is time with family that she most longs for, especially when she gets wishes like the one her great-grandchild Jayden, 12, penned to her on her 80th birthday.
Among the personal notes handwritten on a giant handcrafted birthday card is Jayden's wish — "I hope you live to be in triple digits."
With the spirit of faith, hope and love that this longtime Franklin resident extends to others, there will certainly be many more people blessed if Jayden gets his wish.
williamsonherald.com - By Pam Horne • Managing Editor Jan 22, 2015 Updated Dec 1, 2015
Joann D. Lewis Thompson Blair. Tuesday, June 15, 2021. Survived by devoted family; children, Eleanor Lewis (Chester) Blair, Ralph (Machelle) Thompson, Robert Blair, Jeffery Blair, Sr., Patricia Blair, Patrice (Brice) Cheatham; grandchildren, Jamal (LaTonya) Blair, Tanesha (DeAndre) Mundy, Quinton (Brittany) Thompson, Essence Blair, Ebonee Hill, Whitney Blair, Fanniqua Moore, Jeffery Blair, Jr., Justin Blair, Sydnee Blair, Marcus Campbell, Carmen (Shaon) Cheatham; 20 great-grandchildren; nephew, Ronald Stewart, Sr.; brothers-in-law, Donald and Ronald (Theresa) Blair; sisters-in-law, Dorothy Graham and Delores Lenox; a host of devoted nieces, nephews, other relatives, friends, devoted friends Steve and Kaye George & Family and the Cummins Street Church of Christ Family.
Mrs. Blair will lie-in-state, Wednesday, June 23, 2021 from 11:00 AM – 4:00 PM at Waters Funeral Home, Inc., 1408 Columbia Avenue, Franklin, TN 37064
Visitation with the family Wednesday, June 23, 2021 from 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM at Cummins Street Church of Christ, 511 Cummins Street, Franklin, TN 37064.
Family visitation Thursday, June 24, 2021 from 11:00 AM - 12:00 Noon with funeral services immediately following at Cummins Street Church of Christ. Brother Ricardo Morgan, Minister, Cummins Street Church of Christ, Officiant; Brother Burnes Lyons, Minister, Northside Church of Christ, Eulogist.
Interment Middle Tennessee Veterans Cemetery, Pegram, TN.
Floral expressions and memorial contributions to the Susan G. Komen Central Tennessee foundation in honor of our beloved are welcome.
Send flowers to the service of Joann D. Lewis Thompson Blair
---
Blair's life shaped by faith, hope and love
By Pam Horne • Managing Editor Jan 22, 2015 Updated Dec 1, 2015 0
1 of 4
Facebook
Twitter
Email
Print
Save
At a young age, Joann Lewis Blair witnessed people helping friends and family cope with tough life situations.
As a teen growing up in Nashville in the 1940s, she watched her mother struggle to take care of her sick father.
When her father's health worsened, Blair's much older sister, Bessie, was willing to support their family through the stress.
At the time, Blair was enrolled in one of Nashville's segregated high schools.
Her sister's offer of support meant withdrawing from Meigs High School, leaving her parents and moving to live with Bessie in Dayton, Ohio.
She went from an all-black high school to a racially integrated one.
When Blair returned to Nashville a couple of year later, she proudly held her Roosevelt High School diploma, but it was the confidence born of surviving a rough patch that stayed with her.
Easy isn't always possible
In segregated Nashville, she took a job as a maid at the Baltimore Hotel and met her first husband.
Blair was, once again, challenged by hardship. Her marriage quickly devolved into a volatile relationship.
Left with few options, she faced the difficulty of divorce in the 1950s, not an easy experience during that era, she admits.
But once again, her family stood with her.
It was during this struggle that she moved back home with her parents to her childhood neighborhood and met the love of her life.
Joe Blair and Joann Lewis Blair had actually grown up in the same neighborhood in North Nashville, even worshipped at the same church as youngsters.
"We were neighborhood kids. The Blairs lived on 7th and we lived on 6th Street," she recalls. "We both went to Cleveland Street Baptist."
The childhood friends found instant compatibility, the kind that produces a long and fruitful marriage.
Fresh start, new city
When the Blairs married they decided to look for a community outside Nashville to raise their young family.
In the post-World War II years when veterans were coming home and establishing families, housing was scarce in Franklin.
Finding a place to live was a challenge, but Joann and Joe Blair learned the depth of family support when Joe's sister, Vivian Gosey, extended a very personal invitation to the Blairs to temporarily share her family home.
That single act of kindness allowed the Blairs to move to Franklin in an era when racial segregation still persisted in the South, but was giving way to a new way of life.
The couple came to Franklin in the late 1950s. Joann has fond memories of those early days, and much of it, she says, is due to strong relationships.
The Blair home was always a place that kids and relatives knew was open and inviting, as she took up the role of being "neighborhood mom" to many beyond her own children.
Family and faith
While her husband Joe commuted to Nashville to work for Neely Harwell Hardware, the small business owned by the fathe-in-law of Tennessee's Speaker of the House, Beth Harwell, Joann Blair stayed home with the couple's children.
They attended local schools — Johnson Elementary, Franklin Elementary and Franklin Junior High — before ultimately graduating from Franklin High School.
This respected mother, grandmother and great-grandmother shares that she has always felt welcome in Franklin.
"I was surrounded by family and we are very family-oriented people," she says, stressing that her world revolved around a close-knit community of church and neighbors.
"I was introduced to Cummins Street Church (of Christ) by my sister-in-law Vivian."
It was, Joann says, the spiritual guidance of longtime minister Brother Curtis Cathey, who died in 2000 that strengthened her faith in God.
"I've always been involved in (Cummins Street). In the beginning I taught kids — 10- and 11-year-olds."
When her daughters became teenagers, Blair joined with three church friends -- Betty Patterson, Helen Kinnard and Esther Wilson -- to train and mentor young girls at Cummins Street.
"We would have cooking classes and sewing classes, offering things to help bring them up as young ladies."
"I really appreciate being able to be in classes with those kids," Blair reflects, adding that watching them grow to become mature women, who are now married and raising kids, has brought her tremendous joy.
"I've seen them transformed from a caterpillar to a wonderful butterfly," says Blair, who has undoubtedly become a matriarch in her community of faith, family and friends.
"It makes you really glad to know you had a little part in their life while they were coming up."
Tending to the needs of others
At 80 years old, Blair continues to share with others the wisdom and strength she has gained from hardship.
In recent years, she has tackled breast cancer and is a two-time survivor who is also dedicated to educating women on prevention.
Blair's passion is definitely reaching out to those in need.
Today, her ministry involves feeding the sick and elderly on the second Saturday of every month, providing plate dinners for 60 people through Cummins Street Church of Christ.
Leading a Bible study for ladies in her church has also been a priority for Blair.
But her ministry also goes beyond the walls of Cummins Street to young ladies incarcerated at the Williamson County jail.
It is there that she says she meets with the most vulnerable women she knows.
Blair, along with three other church members, regularly visit women who find themselves in trouble, offering a Bible study for anyone wishing to participate.
The support and encouragement she has received for 56 years from her husband is what has made much of her outreach possible, but also the natural love she has for others.
So, it's not surprising that her 80th birthday was a milestone her husband and children wanted to mark with celebration.
Joann and Joe Blair's six children, Eleanor, Ralph, Robert, Jeffrey, Patricia and Patrice, are all very close and have supplied the couple with numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Lasting memories
Her first year as an octogenarian has been busy; she and her husband recently moved into a new home in Franklin after decades living on Fowlkes Street.
But Joann Blair, a two-time breast cancer survivor, community volunteer and mentor to many, still handles stress with certainty and faith.
The Blairs celebrated the holidays with a house full of family, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
"I just take it one day at a time, so far I've been blessed," Blair says of her life.
It is time with family that she most longs for, especially when she gets wishes like the one her great-grandchild Jayden, 12, penned to her on her 80th birthday.
Among the personal notes handwritten on a giant handcrafted birthday card is Jayden's wish — "I hope you live to be in triple digits."
With the spirit of faith, hope and love that this longtime Franklin resident extends to others, there will certainly be many more people blessed if Jayden gets his wish.
williamsonherald.com - By Pam Horne • Managing Editor Jan 22, 2015 Updated Dec 1, 2015
Mrs. Blair will lie-in-state, Wednesday, June 23, 2021 from 11:00 AM – 4:00 PM at Waters Funeral Home, Inc., 1408 Columbia Avenue, Franklin, TN 37064
Visitation with the family Wednesday, June 23, 2021 from 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM at Cummins Street Church of Christ, 511 Cummins Street, Franklin, TN 37064.
Family visitation Thursday, June 24, 2021 from 11:00 AM - 12:00 Noon with funeral services immediately following at Cummins Street Church of Christ. Brother Ricardo Morgan, Minister, Cummins Street Church of Christ, Officiant; Brother Burnes Lyons, Minister, Northside Church of Christ, Eulogist.
Interment Middle Tennessee Veterans Cemetery, Pegram, TN.
Floral expressions and memorial contributions to the Susan G. Komen Central Tennessee foundation in honor of our beloved are welcome.
Send flowers to the service of Joann D. Lewis Thompson Blair
---
Blair's life shaped by faith, hope and love
By Pam Horne • Managing Editor Jan 22, 2015 Updated Dec 1, 2015 0
1 of 4
Save
At a young age, Joann Lewis Blair witnessed people helping friends and family cope with tough life situations.
As a teen growing up in Nashville in the 1940s, she watched her mother struggle to take care of her sick father.
When her father's health worsened, Blair's much older sister, Bessie, was willing to support their family through the stress.
At the time, Blair was enrolled in one of Nashville's segregated high schools.
Her sister's offer of support meant withdrawing from Meigs High School, leaving her parents and moving to live with Bessie in Dayton, Ohio.
She went from an all-black high school to a racially integrated one.
When Blair returned to Nashville a couple of year later, she proudly held her Roosevelt High School diploma, but it was the confidence born of surviving a rough patch that stayed with her.
Easy isn't always possible
In segregated Nashville, she took a job as a maid at the Baltimore Hotel and met her first husband.
Blair was, once again, challenged by hardship. Her marriage quickly devolved into a volatile relationship.
Left with few options, she faced the difficulty of divorce in the 1950s, not an easy experience during that era, she admits.
But once again, her family stood with her.
It was during this struggle that she moved back home with her parents to her childhood neighborhood and met the love of her life.
Joe Blair and Joann Lewis Blair had actually grown up in the same neighborhood in North Nashville, even worshipped at the same church as youngsters.
"We were neighborhood kids. The Blairs lived on 7th and we lived on 6th Street," she recalls. "We both went to Cleveland Street Baptist."
The childhood friends found instant compatibility, the kind that produces a long and fruitful marriage.
Fresh start, new city
When the Blairs married they decided to look for a community outside Nashville to raise their young family.
In the post-World War II years when veterans were coming home and establishing families, housing was scarce in Franklin.
Finding a place to live was a challenge, but Joann and Joe Blair learned the depth of family support when Joe's sister, Vivian Gosey, extended a very personal invitation to the Blairs to temporarily share her family home.
That single act of kindness allowed the Blairs to move to Franklin in an era when racial segregation still persisted in the South, but was giving way to a new way of life.
The couple came to Franklin in the late 1950s. Joann has fond memories of those early days, and much of it, she says, is due to strong relationships.
The Blair home was always a place that kids and relatives knew was open and inviting, as she took up the role of being "neighborhood mom" to many beyond her own children.
Family and faith
While her husband Joe commuted to Nashville to work for Neely Harwell Hardware, the small business owned by the fathe-in-law of Tennessee's Speaker of the House, Beth Harwell, Joann Blair stayed home with the couple's children.
They attended local schools — Johnson Elementary, Franklin Elementary and Franklin Junior High — before ultimately graduating from Franklin High School.
This respected mother, grandmother and great-grandmother shares that she has always felt welcome in Franklin.
"I was surrounded by family and we are very family-oriented people," she says, stressing that her world revolved around a close-knit community of church and neighbors.
"I was introduced to Cummins Street Church (of Christ) by my sister-in-law Vivian."
It was, Joann says, the spiritual guidance of longtime minister Brother Curtis Cathey, who died in 2000 that strengthened her faith in God.
"I've always been involved in (Cummins Street). In the beginning I taught kids — 10- and 11-year-olds."
When her daughters became teenagers, Blair joined with three church friends -- Betty Patterson, Helen Kinnard and Esther Wilson -- to train and mentor young girls at Cummins Street.
"We would have cooking classes and sewing classes, offering things to help bring them up as young ladies."
"I really appreciate being able to be in classes with those kids," Blair reflects, adding that watching them grow to become mature women, who are now married and raising kids, has brought her tremendous joy.
"I've seen them transformed from a caterpillar to a wonderful butterfly," says Blair, who has undoubtedly become a matriarch in her community of faith, family and friends.
"It makes you really glad to know you had a little part in their life while they were coming up."
Tending to the needs of others
At 80 years old, Blair continues to share with others the wisdom and strength she has gained from hardship.
In recent years, she has tackled breast cancer and is a two-time survivor who is also dedicated to educating women on prevention.
Blair's passion is definitely reaching out to those in need.
Today, her ministry involves feeding the sick and elderly on the second Saturday of every month, providing plate dinners for 60 people through Cummins Street Church of Christ.
Leading a Bible study for ladies in her church has also been a priority for Blair.
But her ministry also goes beyond the walls of Cummins Street to young ladies incarcerated at the Williamson County jail.
It is there that she says she meets with the most vulnerable women she knows.
Blair, along with three other church members, regularly visit women who find themselves in trouble, offering a Bible study for anyone wishing to participate.
The support and encouragement she has received for 56 years from her husband is what has made much of her outreach possible, but also the natural love she has for others.
So, it's not surprising that her 80th birthday was a milestone her husband and children wanted to mark with celebration.
Joann and Joe Blair's six children, Eleanor, Ralph, Robert, Jeffrey, Patricia and Patrice, are all very close and have supplied the couple with numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Lasting memories
Her first year as an octogenarian has been busy; she and her husband recently moved into a new home in Franklin after decades living on Fowlkes Street.
But Joann Blair, a two-time breast cancer survivor, community volunteer and mentor to many, still handles stress with certainty and faith.
The Blairs celebrated the holidays with a house full of family, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
"I just take it one day at a time, so far I've been blessed," Blair says of her life.
It is time with family that she most longs for, especially when she gets wishes like the one her great-grandchild Jayden, 12, penned to her on her 80th birthday.
Among the personal notes handwritten on a giant handcrafted birthday card is Jayden's wish — "I hope you live to be in triple digits."
With the spirit of faith, hope and love that this longtime Franklin resident extends to others, there will certainly be many more people blessed if Jayden gets his wish.
williamsonherald.com - By Pam Horne • Managing Editor Jan 22, 2015 Updated Dec 1, 2015
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