Joyce Bunch

Joyce Bunch
Strong-willed and independent until the end, Leta Joyce Hathcock Bunch passed away at the hospital where she devoted much of her nursing career, DCH Regional Medical Center, on Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2012.

Joyce was born in Smithville, Mississippi on February 8, 1934, to Coleman and Omie Hathcock. The third of four siblings, she developed a love for reading and a deep commitment to helping people regardless of their personal or social circumstances. This belief led to her devoting her life to the art of nursing.

Upon graduating with honors from Smithville High School, she left her family and embarked on a journey that she followed relentlessly until her final months on earth. She enrolled in the nursing program at Memphis Baptist Hospital and received her Registered Nurse Diploma from the Mobile Alabama County Hospital in June 1958. She was honored by her graduating class by receiving the Florence Nightingale Nursing Award. After marrying Bill Bunch, she moved with him to Tuscaloosa to begin her career on the segregated wing of Druid City Hospital. Joyce advanced at DCH and eventually rose to 3-11 supervisor and head RN of the emergency room. She touched many lives of not only her patients, but she inspired many people to join with her in the nursing profession.

She was able to increase this influence by taking the position of adjunct professor of nursing at the University of Alabama College of Community Health Sciences in 1978. She was able to use her experience and her empathy to train a new generation of nurses and family practice physicians. She took on the role in the early 1980s of being the primary instructor of first responders and trained the first generation of EMT-Paramedics in Tuscaloosa County. She continued to teach CPR classes and first responder classes throughout the 1980s.

As she progressed in age, she recognized the needs of the home-bound patient and started the third phase of her career as a home health care nurse with Amedisys, where she worked until 2011. Joyce would travel in her Chevy Blazer SUV and visit patients all over West Alabama. She was known to personally provide financial assistance to those who could not afford their medications or had other needs. She never sought out public recognition for these acts because she believed that this was her God-given purpose in life. The term hero should not be used lightly, but, Joyce, although not perfect, was a hero to her family and many people she worked with and took care of during her life.

Joyce loved to read and was happy with any form of the written word. She later developed an appreciation of music and would play anything from John Coltrane to Waylon Jennings on her portable CD player in her office. Her piercing brown eyes and beautiful smile were legendary. Her quick wit and loyalty touched all who knew her.

She is survived by her four children, Stephen (Denise), Laurie Alison (Stephen), Scott (Ellen), and Shea (Chrissy). She leaves behind grandchildren Hunter, Stephanie, Monica, Holly, Jordan, Jackson, and Caleb.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St Jude's Hospital in Memphis, Tenn.

A memorial service celebrating her life will be held Friday, Sept. 7, 2012, at Memory Chapel Funeral Home on Skyland Boulevard in Tuscaloosa from 6 to 8 p.m. Services will be 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, September 8, 2012 at the New Hope Church of Christ with Minister Philip Hathcock officiating. Burial will be in the New Hope Cemetery.
The family wishes to thank the MICU unit of DCH, Dr. Gary Newsom, Dr. Leonard Jones, the staff of Amedisys, and her dear friend Jo Mathews for the kindness and care provided. Joyce would be proud of their efforts