Who We Are
We have years of experience caring for families, from all walks of life. Each family comes to us because they know we are leaders in our profession, dedicated to excellence in service, and have the highest integrity.
When we sit down with a family, we have just one goal: to create a fitting, memorable and affordable service for their loved one. Together, we explore the wide variety of services and products available, as well as a wealth of creative ideas and suggestions.
Together, we'll design a memorial or funeral service that suits their needs now, and in the future. Families who come to us know that years from now, they will have deep peace-of-mind because in coming to us, they've done their best to honor their loved one.
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Our History
In the early 1990s, Tracy Joiner dreamed of building an independently-owned funeral home. At the time, there was only a corporately-owned funeral home in operation in Statesboro. He had begun his apprentice work in the funeral home industry in Statesboro at the age of 16. With many years of experience in funeral services, he felt a great commitment to maintain the highest honor, integrity and service possible in his profession.
“At a time when many large, out-of-town conglomerates were buying out independent funeral homes, I felt the people in Bulloch County still needed a locally owned funeral home. I believe it is important for families to have a choice and to be able to walk in our doors and do business with the owner.” He continues, “I have always strived to help create funeral arrangements that reflect the wishes of the family. The people we serve every day love their parents, spouses and children just as much as we love ours, and deserve the very best we can give them.”
With great community support and the financial backing of several families from Bulloch County, Tracy Joiner and Jason Shepard opened Joiner-Shepard Funeral Home in December 1996. The funeral home was successful from the beginning, and as Tracy had imagined, the community responded positively to it. In 1998, after the birth of their first child, Jason Shepard and his wife returned to his hometown in Alabama to be closer to their families.
Tracy turned to Mark Anderson to become his new partner. Mark was working with Joiner-Shepard as its Pre-Need Manager. Mark’s background was in the insurance business and he had worked as an insurance adjustor for ten years. In March 1998, the two men, who were among the original owners, acquired the funeral home from the group of investors and renamed it Joiner-Anderson Funeral Home. Mark started his work as an Apprentice Funeral Director.
Since 1999, Tracy and Mark have built the business with the promise to uphold the highest standards of excellence in funeral service. In 2004, the funeral home expanded with the addition of an on-premise crematory. Joiner-Anderson Funeral Home and Crematory also purchased Bulloch Memorial Gardens, a perpetual care cemetery in 2004. “We are committed to helping families and their individual needs,” says Mark. “By being locally owned, we have the flexibility to make decisions based on the family’s desires. We are here to serve families....not a corporate bottom line.”
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Our Valued Staff
Tracy Joiner, Owner
A Bulloch County native, Tracy graduated from Gupton Jones College of Funeral Service in Atlanta. He is a graduate of Southeast Bulloch High School. Tracy is the past president of Independent Funeral Directors of Georgia and the Academy of Graduate Embalmers of Georgia. He has two children, Tyson and Tyler.
Mark Anderson, Owner
A graduate of Georgia Southern University, Mark earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration in 1985. He earned a degree in Funeral Service from Ogeechee Technical College. He is past president of the Kiwanis Club of Statesboro and has served on the Bulloch County Chamber of Commerce. He was a member of the 2000 Class of Leadership Bulloch. He serves on the American Red Cross Board and the Downtown Statesboro Development Authority. He also currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors for Farmer's and Merchants Bank. Mark is a native of Bulloch County and is a member of the First Baptist Church. He and his wife, Jenny Lynn, have two children, Morgan and Allison.
Barry Turner, Funeral Director
Jamie Anderson, Funeral Director
Jenny Lynn Anderson, Public Relations Director
Sandy B. Forehand, Executive Assistant
Tessa Martin, Funeral Assistant
Bland Mathews Jr., Funeral Assistant
Frances Aaron, Funeral Assistant
Martha Chester, Funeral Assistant
Ronnie Alderman, Funeral Assistant
Richard Pylant, Funeral Assistant
Phyllis Wiggins, Funeral Assistant
Irene Hodges, Pianist
Cindy Culp Hulsey, Bulloch Memorial Gardens Manager
Phil Graham, Owner
Phil Graham is a licensed funeral director and co-owner of Joiner-Anderson Funeral Home Screven Chapel in Sylvania, Georgia. Phil became licensed as a funeral director in May 2006 and graduated from Ogeechee Technical College’s Funeral Services Education Program in July 2004. While attending Ogeechee Technical College, he was employed by Massey Framke Funeral Home in Garden City, Georgia and Hubert Baker Funeral Home in Savannah, Georgia. He joined the staff of Fairhaven Funeral Home in 2006 and worked with their firm for a year before joining Joiner-Anderson Funeral Home in October 2007.
A native of Oliver, Georgia, Phil is the son of Duane and Diane Graham. He graduated from Screven County High School in 2002 and is married to Audie Graham.The couple resides in Sylvania and they have a daughter, Sophie Anne. He is a member of the Sylvania Rotary Club, the Ogeechee Technical College Board of Trustees, The Sylvania Downtown Development Authority, and volunteer with the Friends of Screven County Animal Shelter.
Ed Thompson, Owner/Sylvania
Ed Thompson, a native and lifelong resident of Screven County, is the son of Leo E. Thompson, Sr. and Catherine Tebeau Thompson.
A 1970 graduate of Screven County High School, he received an Associates Degree from Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton in 1972 and a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree from Georgia Southern College in 1975. He then attended Gupton-Jones School of Mortuary Science in Jonesboro and graduated with honors in 1977. He was licensed by the State of Georgia as a Funeral Director and Embalmer in 1978.
He returned to Sylvania and joined his father’s business, Thompson Funeral Home, which was established in 1922 by his great-uncle, Randolph H. “Bill” Thompson, and had been under the ownership of his father since 1955.
After Leo Thompson died in 1980, Ed assumed ownership and continued operating Thompson Funeral Home. His employees at that time included James M. Strickland and W. Ronnie Waters. Mr. Strickland and Mr. Waters left in 1981 and opened Strickland-Waters Funeral Home, purchased from Terry C. Massey Funeral Home.
Thompson Funeral Home and Strickland-Waters Funeral Home continued to operate separately until October 1992 when the owners of both sold to Loewen Corporation, a corporate giant based in Canada. The businesses were combined and Thompson-Strickland-Waters was established. All continued full-time in the business until in 2006 when Ed began to work part-time as a consultant. The corporation had by that time been sold twice more and was owned by Service International Corporation with headquarters in Texas. In 2008 Ed made the decision to give his support to Joiner-Anderson Funeral Home and became one of the owners of Joiner-Anderson Screven Chapel, which opened in December 2008.
In the community, Ed has been a member of the Sylvania Lions Club since 1977, has chaired the local chapter of the American Heart Association Bloodmobile and continues to help with publicity, and has chaired the local American Cancer Fund drive for many years. He is a member of United Way of Screven County where he has served in many capacities, and is a past president of the Screven County Chamber of Commerce. He is currently serving as a mentor for a student at Screven County Elementary School.
Ed and his wife, Lee, live on North Main Street in Sylvania.
Billie Anne Nelson, Funeral Assistant
Patricia Self, Funeral Assistant
Mike Ruel, Funeral Assistant
Andy Heath, Funeral Assistant
Dennis Godbee, Funeral Assitant
Boykin Stuart, Funeral Assistant
Redo Brinson, Funeral Assistant
Val Prescott, Owner/Funeral Director
Val Prescott, a Burke County native and Sardis resident, is a veteran funeral director having served as general manager of Fox and Weeks Funeral Directors in Savannah, Georgia for the past 20 plus years. Prescott is the grandson of the late Matthew Valchester and Ophelia Robinson Parkerson of Sardis and the son of Joan Parkerson Prescott and the late Bernard Bruce Prescott of Millen. He is a graduate of Gupton Jones School of Mortuary Science. He and his wife Holly Smith Prescott reside in Sardis and are members of the Sardis United Methodist Church. The Prescotts have three children, Stephen, Andrew, Grey, one granddaughter, Jordyn and one grandson Benjamin.
“The ability to come home and be very involved in this community is an incredible opportunity at this point in my life,” says Prescott. “Over the last two decades, I have worked in a larger metropolitan area serving over 600 families a year. Being able to service families here in Waynesboro on a personal, one-on-one basis will allow me more time with each family and the capacity to connect to the community in a meaningful way.”
Earl Saxon, Owner of Joiner-Anderson-Saxon
Earl Saxon serves as the Pastor of Hebron Baptist Church. The Saxon family moved to Waynesboro almost 30 years ago as Rev. Saxon became the pastor of Rosemont Heights Baptist Church. It has been their great and continuing joy to claim Burke County as their "home.” The Saxons have two children, Earl Thomas, Jr. (Tommy) and wife April, Shanna and husband Lee, and five grandchildren, Faith (15), Graceton (11), A'Ryan (13), Seth (11), and Grace {8}. Earl and Judy along with their daughter Shanna and her husband Lee Bacino have embraced Joiner-Anderson-Saxon Funeral home and Crematory as a great God-given opportunity to enlarge their service to their community.
Judy Joiner Saxon, Funeral Assistant
