Joyce Mann Wilson graduated from Howard High School then went on to study music at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's Cadek Conservatory.There are few certainties in life, but if you've attended Antioch Primitive Baptist Church in the last 54 years, you could count on Joyce Mann Wilson singing from her piano bench.
Change seems to come rarely at Antioch and that's the way Wilson likes it. She says she likes the level of consistency that she has found, and is part of, at Antioch.
"It is comforting to me," she says. "I like my routine."
She started playing there as a teenager - but only with permission from her mother, Sernetta Mann, of course. She's been at Antioch ever since, handling the role of the church's music director for most of those years as well.
Wilson won't tell how old she is." I don't tell my age, but I'm proud to be alive," she says.
When she first began attending the church, it was located in a small building near downtown. It later moved to Third and Douglas streets, then moved once again to North Hickory Street, where it remains. In the years Wilson has been playing piano or worked as music director, Antioch has had just three pastors.
Wilson's time at the church recently was honored by the congregation with a celebration. Hilda Harris-Hardaway chaired the committee that organized the surprise party and says the idea was immediately approved by Pastor James L. Leslie and the church elders.
"Everyone I asked to helped said 'Yes,' and we had a full church," Harris-Hardaway says. "Joyce is such a nice person and that is what everyone who spoke said about her."
Among the guests were Wilson's daughters, Damita Wilson of Chicago and Noretta Bunyon of Stone Mountain, Ga. She also has three grandsons - Darias Alfred Watson, Tyrone Ulysses Jr. and Justin Alexander Bunyon and one great-granddaughter, Anyla Zaire Watson.
She had no idea the celebration in her honor was being planned, says Wilson, who graduated from Howard High School then went on to study music at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's Cadek Conservatory.
"I was very surprised. It was a nice surprise."
Wilson, who prefers playing traditional gospel music, says that, other adding a drummer to the musical ensemble at Antioch, not much has changed at the church over the years, other than the people.
"I've seen them come and go, but it hasn't changed too awful much."
Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.