In memory of Sarah Vail Joyner
The Ten Commandments are first found in Exodus 20 where God as the deliverer of his people describes the moral law for all people in the form of 10 commandments inscribed in stone.
Born in Birmingham on September 11, 1919 and reared in Bay Minette, Sarah Vail Joyner was a life-long Presbyterian. Her parents, Robert B. Vail and Mary Chew Vail, were actively involved in their church, and passed this belief on to their children.
Mrs. Joyner and her husband the late Wilbur Stewart Joyner, Sr., moved to Atmore from Mobile in 1948 and opened an ice cream parlor on South Main Street. Later, they moved their business to Highway 31 and it was called “McMurphy’s”. Julia Joyner Gibbs today owns the restaurant, now known as “Buster’s”. Jesse Robert (Bob) Joyner, Sarah (Sissy) Vail Joyner Scott, Wilbur Stewart (BB) Joyner, Jr., Mary Joyner Grissett, Ruth Joyner Dickerson, and Julia Joyner Gibbs are the children of the Joyners. Mrs. Joyner took an active roll in helping to provide youth activities for the church. From teaching Sunday School and Bible School, to helping “Miss Letha” (Webb) and “Miss Pearl” (Williams) with the annual Easter egg hunt, to making costumes for the Christmas pageants, Mrs. Joyner believed the involvement of the children and youth in church activities was a positive, strengthening direction for the church to take.
Mrs. Joyner died April 14, 1978 but she had lived to see her children join First Presbyterian Church, be married there and their children baptized there. Mr. Joyner placed this window in- his wife’s memory. Pictured here is Mrs. Joyner with her granddaughter Amy Joyner Grissett taken in October 1977. Amy was baptized in the Presbyterian Church December 19, 1976.