Joyce Beasley Warnick McConnell

Joyce Beasley Warnick McConnell, who was devoted to her family and known for her kindness to all and goodness in all circumstances, died on September 14, 2026, in Knoxville, Tennessee. She was 93.

Joyce was a beloved wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, daughter, sister, aunt, and friend. She was a “people person” whose radiant smile enchanted children and welcomed adults. While she loved to “visit” with others, she talked less about herself and inquired more about the lives of the people she was with. That was just her nature.

Born in West Tennessee on Dec. 23, 1932, during the depths of the Great Depression, Joyce was the third oldest of eight children to Marvin and Bethel Beasley and grew up on their small farm in Henry County. It was a hardscrabble life, and she contributed daily by milking cows, churning butter, making biscuits, and caring for younger siblings.

At age 12, she began working at her uncle’s small grocery store in McKenzie, making $3 a day when she wasn’t at school. During her teenage years, she saved enough to buy her parents their first refrigerator, a bicycle for her younger brothers, and a used car for her family. Hard work and generosity were among her many virtues.

Joyce graduated with the Class of 1950 from McKenzie High School in Carroll County.

Her beautiful smile served her well, flashing it one day at a group of people walking into the Dixie Coffee Cup in McKenzie. Tommie Warnick, a young seminary student, thought Joyce was smiling just at him. He convinced “the girl with the smile” to go on a date, and they married on Aug. 23, 1954.

The couple had two children, Bruce and Marta, and created a warm and loving home for them as Tom pastored Cumberland Presbyterian churches in Bradford, Oak Ridge, and Murfreesboro.

In 1975, the family moved to Memphis after Tom was elected Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Cumberland Presbyterian denomination. For more than a decade, Joyce served as assistant manager of the denomination’s Christian education bookstore.

After 42 years of marriage, when Tom died, Joyce moved closer to family in Knoxville. In 1999, she married Don McConnell, a widower and retired Army chaplain and lieutenant colonel. Together, they enjoyed family life, RV trips, and a Peekapoo pup named Missy until Don’s death in 2021.

Joyce loved music and gardening and was active in church. Children were naturally drawn to her and, in addition to working as a preschool teacher for a time, she taught many children’s Sunday school classes through the years.

Joyce is survived by her children Bruce (Karen) Warnick, of Knoxville, and Marta (Bill) Aldrich, of Franklin; grandchildren Matthew (Juanita) Warnick, Courtney (Matthew) Lawson, Ben (Moriah) Warnick and Michael (Alison) Aldrich; stepchildren Roger (Lori) McConnell and Jeff (Emily) McConnell; four step-grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren; and a host of nieces and nephews.

In addition to losing her parents and husbands, she was preceded in death by six brothers: Robert, Allen, Wray, Morris, Phillip, and Kenneth Beasley, all of McKenzie; a sister, Sue Barker, of Lowell, Indiana; and stepdaughter Sara McConnell, of Richmond, Va.

Joyce’s funeral was Friday, Sept. 18, at the Farragut Chapel of Click Funeral Home in Knoxville. The following day, a brief graveside service was held at 12 p.m. Central Time at Mt. Olivet Cemetery in McKenzie, Tennessee, where Joyce was buried beside her husband, Tommie.

In lieu of flowers, the family welcomes memorials to Joyce’s favorite charity: the T.V. Warnick Endowment Fund to train ministers. (Make checks out to Board of Stewardship and write T.V. Warnick Endowment Fund on the memo line. Mail to the Cumberland Presbyterian Center, Board of Stewardship, 8207 Traditional Place, Cordova, TN 38016.)

“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.”