June 25, 1939 – December 13, 2024
Gloria Joiner Murphy, 85, of Bainbridge, passed away Friday, December 13, 2024.
The memorial service will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 28, 2024, at Bryant Funeral Home Chapel with Rev. Lynn Roberts officiating. Interment will follow at Sutton Chapel Cemetery.
The family will receive friends immediately following the service. Online visitors may sign the guest register at www.bryantfuneralga.com. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to: Sutton Chapel, 1209 Loblolly Lane, Bainbridge, GA 39817 or Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, P.O. Box 660843 Dallas, TX 75266-0843. www.komen.org/donate
Gloria Ellen Joiner was born in Cotton, GA, to Herschel and Eloise Cranford Joiner. She was full of energy and always on the go. The family moved to Pelham, GA, after she completed elementary school, and she graduated from Pelham High School in 1957. She married her love, Donald Hicks Murphy, in March, prior to graduation.
Gloria worked for seven years for Commercial Bank (Synovus Bank) in Thomasville. After the family relocated to Bainbridge in 1977, she became an employee of First Port City Bank where she worked for over 20 years. She loved people and will always be remembered for her smiling face on the teller line. She loved to share the details of her experiences with being robbed at gunpoint at both banks. She is remembered for asking the robber when he gave her the note asking for the money, “Are you sure you want to do this?”
She served as a lay speaker for the United Methodist Church for eleven years while a member of Sutton Chapel where she also taught children’s Sunday School. After her husband’s death, she became an active member of Bainbridge First United Methodist Church where she took pleasure in attending the Mary O’Quinn Sunday School class.
Gloria was an energetic member of the Bainbridge Pilot Club serving as president for 1994-1995. In addition, she volunteered for the Salvation Army.
She had a green thumb and anything she planted thrived. Camelias, gardenias, amaryllis (of all colors), gladiolus, sunflowers, and azaleas, to name a few, kept her beautiful lawn full of color. She also had two rain trees grown from seeds after a trip to Florida. She enjoyed sharing her plants with others.
Gloria was a magnificent cook and loved to entertain family and friends with her delicious home-cooked meals and desserts. She enjoyed baking cakes and pies for special occasions for family, friends and for others in the community.
Gloria was a fantastic seamstress. As children, her daughters wore beautiful Easter dresses and other outfits that she lovingly made for them. She also stitched curtains, drapes, and bedding that filled her home.
She loved animals and, living out in the country, was constantly rescuing animals, especially cats, that people had abandoned. She claimed many cats as her own over the years and fed any stray that happened her way. She is survived by six cats that now reside with her daughter.
She is survived by her daughter, Rhonda Ruffin (Chip); her grandchildren, Jennifer Ruffin (Hollis), Donnie Nettles (Michelle), Grace Penton (Chris), and Edward Ruffin, III; her great-grandson, Gunner Nettles; and many loving nieces and nephews.
In addition to her parents, Gloria was preceded in death by her husband, Sheriff Donald Hicks Murphy; her daughter, Judy Murphy; and her sisters, Connie Murphy Hatfield, June Green, and Nancy Hickey.
Bryant Funeral Home, located at 105 N. Florida Street, is assisting the family with arrangements. (229-246-3321)
