Joan Tullia Ayers

Joan Tullia Ayers passed away peacefully at 1:02 a.m. on March 28, 2026, surrounded by the love of her family after a long and beautiful life. In her final week, her hospital room was filled with flowers, music, stories, and the people who loved her most. Her children and grandchildren were by her side, talking to her, playing her favorite songs, and telling her how much she was loved. She was surrounded by love all the way to the end.

Joan was born in New York and raised in New Jersey, where she spent most of her life before later years in Maine and North Carolina, always living near or with her children and grandchildren. Joan was a devoted mother, grandmother, daughter, and friend. She is survived by her children, Jill Adler, Daniel Adler and his wife, Amy, and Jessica Adler Coro and her husband, Courtney Coro. She is also survived by her grandchildren, Ashley Adler Coro, Deanna Adler, and Chase Coro and her brother, Eddie Ayers. She was preceded in death by her beloved grandson, Thomas Harverson III, and by her mother, Joan Lang.

Joan loved deeply and was deeply loved. She created a home filled with music, animals, and conversation. She loved quilting, art, poetry, and reading. She especially loved dogs, adventures at her cabin in Maine, and traveling, including a special trip to Europe with her granddaughter that became one of those memories they talked about forever. She had her staple meals that her family will never forget: bread in the bread machine, lasagna, stromboli, turkey meatballs, chili, and a noodle dish that no one quite knows how to spell but everyone knows how to love.

Her family finds comfort imagining her now peaceful, whole, and home at the cabin, sitting on the front porch in her rocking chair with her mother next to her, coffee in hand, listening to the loons. The weather is always perfect, she is never cold, there are endless peppermint patties and bowls of popcorn, a fire that never goes out, Law & Order: SVU always playing when she wants it, Rummikub at the table after dinner, and all of her dogs and her mother beside her.

When her family looks at their lives, they can see that all of the best parts trace back to her. She was a remarkable woman and mother. She will be missed for the rest of their lives and carried with them in everything they do, always.

A private celebration of life will be held at a later date.

Hartsell Funeral Home of Midland is serving the Ayers family.