Juanda Hawkins Keisling, of Chattanooga, went to be with her heavenly Father, on Feb. 26, 2025, at the age of 81.
Born in Atlanta, Georgia, on March 16, 1943, she attended Sylvan Hills High School and Piedmont Hospital School of Nursing.
After graduation, she met her life-long partner, John, when he and some other Georgia Tech boys ate lunch at her grandparents’ home after Sunday worship at the Northwest Church of Christ.
Juanda’s life was marked by her service to the Sparta community and surrounding counties as a registered nurse for 40 years where she worked at White County Hospital as operating supervisor, for the Red Cross, for multiple home health agencies, and finally in private practice.
She also was a long-time, children’s Bible class teacher at West Sparta Church of Christ and later helped to birth a new congregation at the Cumberland Heights Church of Christ. After moving to Chattanooga 12 years ago, she forged new friendships with the ladies at the Signal Mountain Church of Christ and continued to manage household responsibilities until the last day of her life. She was a tireless worker for others.
Juanda’s hobbies included rose and vegetable gardening, sewing, painting, needlework, reading, and she was an accomplished piano player with a beautiful voice. She enjoyed summer trips out West with her family and a few U.S. Department of Commerce adventures abroad with her husband.
She was preceded in death by her father, George Gordon Hawkins and her mother, Lois Inez Richmond, and her sisters, Diane Burton, of Hiram, Georgia, and Linda Reed Jones, of Conway, Arkansas.
She is survived by her husband of 60 years, John Herbert Keisling; a son, John Gordon Keisling; a daughter, Kimberly Keisling Green (son-in-law, Kyle Green); two grandchildren, Katherine and James William Green, all of Chattanooga; a brother, George Hawkins (sister-in-law Cheryl Hawkins), of Douglasville, Georgia; and nieces and nephews.
A memorial service will 1:30 p.m., March 30, 2025, at Cumberland Heights Church of Christ, in Sparta/Doyle.
Arrangements are entrusted to Lane Funeral Home, in Chattanooga.
