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Aug. 9, 1935 – Sept. 2, 2024

NATCHEZ — Visitation for Joan Kiser, 89, of Natchez who died Monday, Sept. 2, 2024, in Natchez, will be 10 a.m. until 11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024, at First Baptist Church Natchez, followed by a graveside service led by Richard Lambert at Greenlawn Memorial Park Cemetery under the direction of Laird Funeral Home.

Joan passed away at her home Monday evening surrounded by three generations of her loving family, in the company of faithful friends, and under the caring attention of her hospice team.

Born August 9, 1935, to Lester and Dorothy Stotts, Joan lived most of her youth in east Texas. Her father was a Baptist minister, and when Joan and her younger sister, Delores, were in their teens, the family relocated to the Natchez area to pastor a church near Washington, Mississippi. And so it was in Natchez that Joan met and married the love of her life, Virgil Kiser, her husband of 58 years until his death in 2012.

In addition to her family, Joan’s passions were her faith, her many good friends, and her years of teaching preschoolers through kindergarten. Even in her later years, it was a joy to her to come across one of her preschoolers, now adults, who still remembered her as “Mrs. Kiser”.

Joan also loved the many good friends that she had made over her decades at church, and in these last few years, she was particularly appreciative of the many people at First Baptist Church who helped her, visited with her, and just generally looked out for her. Along with her church family, Joan also loved and appreciated her very special long-term caregiver, Audrey Berry, who was with her when she passed away. Joan’s family also want to give a special thank-you to Jennifer Rasberry for her help and caregiving, and to Joan’s wonderful neighbors, Billy and Wilma Williams.

Joan was preceded in death by her parents, by her beloved husband, and by one of her grandchildren, Robert Lee Kiser.

She is survived by all three of her children: Lee Kiser and wife, Rosaree, of Austin, Texas; Larry Kiser and wife, Brenda Kay, of Allen, Texas; and Brenda Anne Kiser Hopkins and husband, Mike, of Maumelle, Arkansas. She is also survived by her sister, Delores Stotts Rabalais and husband, Gerald, of Bunkie, Louisiana.  She is survived by her grandchildren Stephanie Atkins Arnett and husband, Will, of Starkville; Tiffany Atkins Howell and her husband, Anthony, of Maumelle, Arkansas; and Rhea Kiser McCandles; and great-grandchildren Josh and Camille Arnett; Xan Arnett; Kiser and Annon Howell; James McCandles; and Ryker and Kaelyn Kiser.

Pallbearers will be Will Arnett, Anthony Howell, Xan Arnett, Skipper Blackwell, Tim Runnels, and Julius Cotten.

Online condolences may be sent to the family at lairdfh.com.