Joan Brown Aiken

Joan Brown Aiken, 77, of Shady Dale, died Tuesday, July 19, 2011, at her residence after a lengthy illness.

Mrs. Aiken was born September 1, 1933, in Dublin, and graduated from Dublin High School in 1951. She played basketball and was a cheerleader and was voted most athletic. She worked as a secretary for the Director of Maintenance at Robins Air Force Base in Warner Robins for a few years. During that time, she finished a management course that promoted her as the first female in Production Management in the Maintenance Department.

After leaving Macon, the family moved to Shady Dale in the mid 1960s where she became a full time mother and homemaker. Mrs. Aiken was a member of the Monticello Baptist Church. She and her husband, Milton, were founding parents of Piedmont Academy. Her parents, J.C. Brown, Sr. and Elberta Vaughn Brown; and three brothers, J.C. Brown, Jr., Wayne Brown, and Billy Brown, all preceded her in death.

Survivors include her husband of 57 years, Clifford Milton Aiken of Shady Dale; son and daughter-in-law, Cliff and Sandra Aiken of Loganville, and daughter and son-in-law, Nora and Mark Berendsen of Chapel Hill, N.C.; grandchildren, Christopher Matthew Aiken of Macon, Corey Bryant Aiken, and Robyn Carlotta Aiken, both of Loganville, and William Grayson Powell, Jr., Charles Aiken Powell, and Matthew Baynes Berendsen, all of Chapel Hill, N.C.; and several nieces and nephews.

Funeral services will be held Friday, July 22, at 11 a.m. at Monticello Baptist Church. Burial will be held in Providence Baptist Church cemetery in Shady Dale. Rev. Joseph Brown and Dr. Robert Whitmire will officiate.

Pallbearers will be Chris Aiken, Corey Aiken, Grayson Powell, Charlie Powell, Matthew Berendsen, and Mark Berendsen. Honorary pallbearers will be the Women’s Sunday School Class of Monticello Baptist Church.

The family will receive friends Thursday, July 21, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Jordan Funeral Home, 264 Hillsboro St., Monticello.

The family suggests donations in lieu of flowers to the Monticello Baptist Church, 334 W. Greene Street, Monticello, Ga., 31064.

Jordan Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. For more information, visit its website at www.jordanfuneralhome monticello.com.