Joan Marie (Eaves) Fussell Russell, 82, entered into Glory on Saturday, February 3, 2024, at the Pavilion at BRMC.
Born October 14, 1941, in Starkville, MS, to the late Paul H. and Marie (Sheppard) Eaves.
Joan was a 1958 graduate of East Jefferson High School in Metairie, LA. She attended Louisiana State University at New Orleans before marrying Lt. William R. Fussell, Jr., USN on May 31, 1960.
They were stationed at Naval Air Stations in Corpus Christi TX, Bermuda and Jacksonville, FL, before Joan was widowed at age 23 when Bill was killed on active duty on April 11, 1965. She married William Ezra Russell on June 24, 1966. She lived most of her adulthood as a single mother following their divorce on December 29, 1971. She returned to Louisiana State University at New Orleans and graduated with an Associate of Science Degree in Nursing in 1986 and became a Registered Nurse. She worked in psychiatric hospitals in New Orleans and Houston before retiring from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Psychiatric Prison Hospital in 1997.
Raised in the Southern Baptist Church, Joan was confirmed in the Episcopal Church in 1969, in St. Augustine’s in River Ridge, LA. She served as an active lay member for the rest of her life in several churches, most recently at Church of the Ascension in Bradford.
Joan believed her greatest accomplishment was loving and raising five children: Susan Fussell (David) Gniady, Shaula Fussell Sewell, The Rev. Stacey Fussell, John (Maria) Russell, and the late William Paul Fussell. She has nine grandchildren: Rachel, Sarah, Paige, Jasmine, Lindsey, Hannah, Ava, Christina, Catherine, and five great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by twin granddaughters, Cassandra and Samantha Gniady, one brother, Louis Paul Eaves, and one niece, Beth Eaves.
Friends are invited to attend a Service of Christian Burial on Sunday, February 11, 2024, at 2 p.m. at the Episcopal Church of the Ascension (26 Chautauqua Place) with the Rt. Rev. Dr. Sean W. Rowe, Bishop of the Episcopal Dioceses of WNY and NWPA, officiating. Interment will follow the service in the Ascension Columbarium.
Funeral arrangements are under the direction of the Hollenbeck-Cahill Funeral Homes Inc.
Online condolences may be expressed at www.hollenbeckcahill.com