Joseph J. Tallyn, 86, passed away at Hospice Family Care on Thursday morning, December 22, 2022. He was better known as Joe by all of his friends. Joe was born in Benson, Illinois on October 25, 1936 and grew up on the family farm. He graduated from Benson High School at the age of 16 and continued his education at Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina majoring in Religious Education. After graduation, he had several jobs in the ministry that took him to Topeka, Kansas, Peoria, Illinois and Rockford, Illinois before moving to Huntsville in 1967, where Joe started a program called Campus Life Youth for Christ in the schools around the area.
Joe worked for Youth for Christ until 1981 when he went to work for the Alabama Department of Youth Services, working with troubled youth across north Alabama. After two years, this program was discontinued and he went to work for Prudential Life Insurance. In 1988, he went to work for the Madison County Sheriff Department’s Pre-trial Work Release program from which he officially returned in 2015. He touched many lives over the years working in this field as well as the Campus Life program.
Joe was a hard worker, running a lawn care business along with his son, Bruce, in his spare time, up to a few months before his death. The last eight years before his death he endured heart problems, kidney problems and diabetes, but was able to keep everything under control until a few weeks before his death.
After moving to Huntsville, Joe became an avid Alabama fan. He also loved the Chicago Cubs baseball team and was excited when they finally won the World Series.
Joe was also a music director at Oak Park Baptist and Meadow Drive Baptist churches. He really loved the old hymns and missed them being sung in the church music of today.
Joe is survived by his wife of almost 42 years, Lynda; his sons, Steve (Cheryl) of Franklin, Tennessee, Bruce of Huntsville and Scott Glover (Rhonda) of Dalton; grandchildren, Sam and Emma Tallyn of Tennessee and Zachary and Kara Harris and Kayla Spence (Corey) of Dalton; sister, Donna Peterson (Ron) of Fairburn, Ohio; brother-in-law, Jerry Williams (Jo Nell) of Northport, Alabama; one niece and two nephews.
Visitation will be Wednesday, December 28th from 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm at Jackson Way Baptist Church followed by a memorial service at 1:00 pm.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Jackson Way Baptist Church, 1001 Andrew Jackson Way NE, Huntsville 35801. (www.jwbc.org)
