Celebration of life scheduled for Spelman College professor found dead in Lake Oconee

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - The community is holding a celebration of life for a Spelman College instructor who was found dead in Lake Oconee last week.

The ceremony for Joycelyn Wilson will be held on Thursday, Feb. 20 at 11 a.m. at Zion Hill Baptist Church — the congregation she attended, according to her obituary. In her memory, the Joycelyn Wilson Memorial Scholarship has been established at Clark Atlanta University, her alma mater.

Wilson, 49, was a Spelman College instructor in the Department of Mathematics, “where she made an indelible impact on both her students and colleagues,” the college said in a statement. She enjoyed skydiving, flying airplanes, traveling the world and more, her obituary said.

On Saturday, Feb. 8, Georgia Department of Natural Resources game wardens were called to Lake Oconee to investigate an empty boat circling the water. Wilson’s body was found the next day using sonar equipment.

Wilson was on the boat with her fiancé, Gary Jones. He was a varsity girls and boys track and field coach at Westminster, a private Christian school in Atlanta.

After 11 days, Jones has still not been found. Crews changed the search from a rescue mission to a death investigation after his shoes were found washed ashore.

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