Joanna Morris

Joanna (Jo) Julliard Morris, devoted wife to two husbands, loving mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, passed away peacefully at her North Carolina home on November 19, 2025, at the age of 99-1/2 years.

Born Joanna Shaffer in Lynchburg, Ohio on May 11, 1926, to Elmer Thomas and Mary Ruth (Henderson) Shaffer, she grew up with three brothers during the Depression and World War II. After graduating from Lynchburg High School, Joanna went to Ohio State University on a full scholarship, graduating in 1948 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Home Economics. During this period, Joanna also worked at Wright-Patterson AFB (formerly Wright Field) as a Clerk/Security Escort. Joanna met her future husband, Mora Mason Julliard, brother of her best friend. After Mora returned from serving in the US Navy during WWII, they were married on June 13, 1948, two days after Joanna’s OSU graduation. They lived in Millville, Ohio, then later moved to Hamilton, Ohio, where they raised a family and became members of the Lindenwald United Methodist Church and their community.

Joanna had many hobbies and interests, which she shared with her many friends and family: cooking/baking, gardening/outdoors, sewing/knitting/crafting, animals, especially cats, but her biggest loves were children and books, which eventually led to a career as both a reference librarian and children’s librarian. A few years after both her and Mora’s retirement and his untimely death in 1988, Joanna married Albert Morris, a long-time family friend, on March 11, 1990. Following Albert’s death in 1999, Joanna joined her eldest daughter and son-in-law and moved to Franklin, NC in 2002.

Joanna was predeceased by her two husbands, as well as her parents, and her brothers, Eugene Shaffer, Vernon Shaffer, and Phillip Shaffer, her sisters-in-law, Jackie Shaffer, Verna Shaffer, Mary Julliard Hogan, Bonnie Julliard, Christine Julliard, two premature infants, a granddaughter, Laura Ann Lay, and a son-in-law, Terry Lay, as well as other relatives and close friends. Joanna is survived by her three remaining children, Mariann Julliard Huston (Donald), Alan Thomas Julliard (Linda), and Joy Ellen Lay, three grandsons and their wives, Barry Lay (Kati), Walker Julliard (Lauren), and Hayden Julliard (Kristi), two great-grandchildren, Max Julliard, and Lily Julliard, and a sister-in-law, Doris Shaffer, as well as several nieces and nephews.

Joanna’s family wishes to thank the Four Seasons Hospice organization for its compassionate and excellent service during the year and a half that Joanna was in its care. It was Joanna’s wish that she be cremated, and her ashes taken to a family plot in Lynchburg, Ohio, and to Alaska, where she and Mora spent many happy moments. A graveside service will take place in Ohio sometime in the spring (TBD).

A Celebration of Life Gathering will be held locally in Franklin at the Bryant-Grant Funeral Home on Sunday, December 14, from 5 – 7 pm.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials and donations in Joanna’s name be made to Friends of the Library in Franklin, Four Seasons Hospice, or a charity of your choice.

Online condolences can be left at www.bryantgrantfuneralhome.com.

Bryant-Grant Funeral Home & Crematory is honored to serve the Morris family.