Clark Howard's mom, Joy Chase, has died at 92

Joy Garson Howard Kunian Chase, a lifelong Atlantan, avid traveler, successful businesswoman and dedicated volunteer, died in her sleep Sunday at age 92. Sign the guestbook here.

Credit: Jennifer Brett

Credit: Jennifer Brett

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"People think he's such a big shot," his mom once said of Atlanta's favorite consumer expert. "You should see him with his brothers. He's my baby. He's not famous around them!"

Joy was born May 13, 1924, the youngest of Frank and Gussie Garson's three children. Growing up in downtown Atlanta, Joy attended the 10 th Street School and then Girl's High. After a year at Larson Junior College in New Haven, Conn., Joy returned to Atlanta and was introduced by her best friend, Ramona Freedman, to a young Army Lieutenant, Bernard Howard, who was stationed at Fort McPherson. They married on Dec 3. 1942.

Widowed in her mid-60's, Joy went on to find love two more times. Her second husband, Sonny Kunian, died in 1997. In 2009 she married Art Chase, whom she'd met at Parc at Buckhead, the elegant high-rise for seniors behind Phipps Plaza.

Over meals in the dining room, Joy and Art discovered a shared love of travel. Then he started riding the elevator to her floor to "pick her up" before dinner. Soon he was escorting her back to her place afterward.

"We just gravitated toward each other, " Joy said at the time.

Eventually the two decided they'd prefer to live as one and family and friends gathered in Parc's second-floor card room to transformed into a wedding hall.

Art's daughter Cynthia Chase walked with him down the aisle. Joy was escorted by her four children, who walked arm-in-arm with their mother.

"It's never too late to fall in love," read their wedding invitations, created by Jackie Howard, owner of the high-end stationery shop Paces Papers.

"The two of you are absolute evidence of that," said Rabbi Alvin Sugarman, The Temple's rabbi emeritus, who officiated the sweet ceremony. "It's always such a joy to marry a couple of young kids."