Della Frances Ivy Ware, 88, died Sunday, April 16, 2023, at Graceview Homes in Newton, NC, after an extended illness.
She was born July 16, 1934 in Dekalb County, but she has lived most of her life in the Waycross/Blackshear area. She was a loving and devoted homemaker who served her Lord and Savior as a pastor’s wife. While her husband, the late Rev. Johnny B. Ware III, served the many churches he pastored, she taught Sunday School, played the piano, led choir practices, led ladies’ groups and she worked with young people. She and her husband hosted many missionaries in their home, and they supported the Mary Street Mission in Waycross very passionately. She retired from JCPenney’s, and they devotedly supported her sons in the military during their deployments. She will also be fondly remembered as an avid Braves fan.
In addition to her parents and husband, she was preceded in death by two brothers, Paul Kirk Ivy Jr. and James Ivy.
Survivors include three children, Douglas Keith Ware Sr. (Jan), Shirley Diane Ware Ewing (Gary) and Craig Barkley Ware (Sun Ok); grandchildren, Keith Ware Jr., Wesley Ware (Phyllis), Cameron Ewing (Lindsey), Landon Ewing (Katie), Alicia Diane Ware and Brandon Ware (Monica); great-grandchildren, Delila Ware, Weston Ware, Kilian Ewing, Izzi Ewing, Raelyn Ewing, Jordan Gardner-Ware, Jacob Phillips and Nicco Ware; siblings, Louise Womack, Larry Ivy and Franklin Ivy and numerous nieces and nephews.
Visitation will be from 1-2 p.m. Friday, April 21, at Bristol Baptist Church.
Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Friday, April 21, from the Bristol Baptist Church.
Interment will follow in Bristol Baptist Church Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to Graceview Homes, 300 W.J. St., Newton, NC 28658.
Sympathy may be expressed by posting to her tribute wall at www.musicfuneralhome.com.
Music Funeral Home of Waycross is in charge of arrangements.
