Martha Elizabeth Joyner Worrell

Published 6:21 pm Saturday, July 30, 2016

Martha “Tippy” Elizabeth Joyner Worrell, 83, passed away July 29, 2016. She was born in Suffolk to the late Perry W. and Violet Lowe Joyner. She was predeceased by her husband of 60 years, Joseph “Frank” Franklin Worrell Jr.; grandson, Frank Newsome; and sister-in-law, Marie Roeder.

She graduated in 1949 from Chuckatuck High School. Tippy worked in the personnel department at Lipton Tea for six years. She later went on to work and retire after 31 years as an executive secretary at Virginia Department of Transportation. She was a member of Providence United Methodist Church for 69 years, where she was a former Sunday school teacher and a member of the Methodist Women’s Club. She was also a former member of the Credit Women’s Business Breakfast Club that included businesswomen in Suffolk. Tippy will always be remembered as a lady of style and grace. Whenever you saw her, she was sparkling from head to toe in the latest couture. Even at 83, the fancier the clothes, the shinier and larger the jewelry and the higher the shoes, the more she liked it. She was a true “fashion icon.”

Left to cherish her memory are her daughter and son-in-law, Debbie and Don Dalton; son and daughter-in-law, Perry and Lorraine Worrell; grandchildren, Beth Evans, Perry “PJ” Worrell Jr.; granddaughter-in-law, Mullika Newsome, of Hawaii; great-granddaughter, Erica Lee Munford and her father and stepmother, Mark and Lisa Munford; sister-in-law, Josephine Pierce and husband, Percy; her longtime neighbors, Bobby and Jean Saunders; numerous nieces and nephews, cherished friends and her VDOT family.

A celebration of life service will be held Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2016, at 11 a.m. in Parr Funeral Home & Crematory with the Rev. Dr. Garland Hines officiating. Burial will follow in Holly Lawn Cemetery. Memorial donations may be made to the Providence United Methodist Church Building Fund at 3109 Providence Road, Suffolk, VA 23434. Condolences may be posted at www.parrfuneralhome.com.