A Celebration of Sisters, Beverly McDonald, March 6, 1943 - June 9, 2010, JoAnn Whatley, May 6, 1945 - July 18, 2010, Saturday, July 31, 2010, 10:00 a.m., Providence Missionary Baptist Church, 2295 Benjamin E. Mays Dr. SW, Atlanta, GA 30311, Imam Plemon T. El-Amin, Presiding, Rev. Dr. Gerald L. Durley, Pastor

Life and Death are One
If you would indeed behold the spirit of death, open your heart wide into the body of life. For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one...
...For what is it to cease breathing, but to free the body from restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered? And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb. And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.
"The Prophet" Kahlil Gibran
Acknowledgements
The family extends sincere thanks and a ppreciation for t h e many expressions of concern, support and compassion. May God, the Almighty, reward and bless each of you, and may we all find His Peace here and hereafter.

Beverly McDonald JoAnn Whatley
March 6, 1943- June 9, 2010 May 6, 1945- July 18, 2010
Saturday, July 31, 2010 10:00 a.m.
Providence Missionary Baptist Church
2295 Benj amin E. Mays Dr. SW Atlanta, GA 30311
Imam Plemon T. El-Amin, P residing Rev. Dr. Gerald L. Durley, Pastor

Beverly Whatley McDonald
March 6, 1943-June 9, 2010
Beverly Pearl (Whatley) McDonald passed on June 9, 2010 in Oakland, California after a brief illness. Her late husband and love of her life, Lester McDonald, attracted her to Oakland and the Bay Area 40 years ago. Together they were blessed with two children Kevin (34) and Keisha (32). With the sudden death of Lester in 1983, Beverly focused her life on raising, loving and providing for their young children, which she successfully accomplished, witnessing Kevin's 1998 graduation from Harvard University and 2008 graduation from New York University and Keisha' s 2000 graduation from Georgetown University.
Beverly was an honor graduate of Spelman College, class of '64, a Merrill Scholar at the University of Norway, and received her Master' s Degree in Mathematics from Michigan State University. She gave her talents to the University of California-Berkeley from 1971 until retiring in 2004 as Director of the Office of the President.
She was well traveled, spoke several languages, and loved to please, to empathize and to encourage everyone and anyone. A more supportive person would be hard to find.
Her husband, Lester McDonald, her father and mother, Plemon and Jeanette Whatley of Atlanta, and her father-inlaw, Callie McDonald, preceded her in death. She is survived by her son Kevin McDonald (Carmen) of NY, her daughter Keisha McDonald of LA, sister JoAnn Whatley of Atlanta, her brother Plemon El-Amin (Cassandra) of Atlanta, her mother-in-law Gustavia McDonald, sister-in-law Linda, brothers-in-law Keith and Wayne, her precious grandson Khalil, the McDonald and Whatley families and numerous relatives, co-workers, neighbors and friends.

Ort.ler of ~erviee

Opening

Imam Plemon T. El-Amin

roy Selection Mrs. Roslyn Whatley Lumpki~

;)

G~1cle. Fee+(!Alhile 1 rvnl'hts ro1p_;

Family Reflections

(3-5 minutes)

Prayer Rev. Paula Whatley Matabane

Selection Mrs. Roslyn Whatley Lumpkin

Reflections from Friends

(2 minutes)

Family Remarks

(3-5 minutes)

Closing Reflection

Dr. Gerald Durley

Selection Mrs. Roslyn Whatley Lumpkin

Repast at Whatley Legacy Property 1298 Calhoun Terrace

JoAnn Whatley
May 6, 1945 - July 18, 2010
JoAnn Whatley was a woman who engaged life on her own terms. Born to Plemon and Jeanette Whatley in Atlanta, Georgia on May 6, 1945; she was a precocious youth who, at an early age, distinguished herself as the family 's sage, resident artist, playwright, director and griot. JoAnn was a well educated woman of many 'talents. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Spelman College in 1967.
After spending her junior year abroad at )9-e.Sorbonne in Paris,
France, JoAnn worked, studied, and traveled extensively in Europe for the next six years. While abroad, JoAnn earned a second degree in French Culture and Civilization from the University of Paris. Fluent in both French and German, she also studied art and refmed her skills as a painter and graphic artist in Vienna, Austri.a. Today, her portraits of family mem~ers a~e proudly displayed in Whatley and other Atlanta family homes. JoAnn loved children. After returning to the states, she earned a Teaching Certificate from the University of N.e.w Yor~ and a Master's Degree in African-American Studies: from Atianta University. Subsequently, she taught art at the children's Art Carnival in Harlem, Atlanta Public Schools ' Downtown Learning Center, and at Spelman College. Her nieces and nephews fondly remember her as their playmate and aunt who never forgot a birthday or a holiday, and sent or delivered gifts that only JoAnn could spawn. JoAnn Whatley is the author of Banking and Finance Careers, published in 1978, and at the time of her death had been employed with the IRS as a tax examiner for seventeen years. She is preceded in death by her mother and father, Jeanette and Plemon Whatley, her sisters Jean Camille Whatley and Beverly Whatley McDonald. She is survived by her brother, Imam Plemon T. ElAmin (Cassandra), her nieces Fatima El-Amin and Keisha McDonald, her nephews Kevin McDonald and Fareed El-Amin, and a host of very special cousins, aunts, uncles, classmates and friends.