Jody Ann Hartley

Jody Hartley, born Jody Ann Wampler to Joseph and Lois Wampler in Okinawa, Japan, on March 16, 1955, died peacefully in her sleep on December 20, 2025. She was 70 years old.

Here is a small list of things Jody was:

Daughter

Mother

Nurse

Wife

Grandmother

Great grandmother

Nail polisher

Cook

Seamstress

Beautiful

Funny

Smart

Sharp

Loving

Sad

Lonely

Sick

Here is a small list of things she is now:

Gone

In our memories

At peace

At rest

Sitting with her momma and daddy somewhere wonderful in the sun just watching the cars pass in the late day shimmer

She was full of pride for her kids and grandchildren. And she told them so. She loved them in her way and wished she could spend more time with all of them, even though some of them had scattered to the four winds. She went to ball games and choir concerts and plays. She was always a little jealous of her talented family when she was referred to as (insert child’s name)’s Mom and not her own name.

But she kept coming back for each game and show. She loved music and the beach, neither of which she got enough of in her life. She was most content floating in the waves of the Gulf of Mexico and walking its white sand beaches.

She was messy. Not dirty. Just messy.

She was always put together.

Makeup and hair done. Jewelry just right. She smelled beautiful.

She loved to drive fast and shift her own gears.

She loved all creatures, except pigs, great and small, especially the dogs and cats who kept her company over the years.

Her daddy was a Master Sargent in the U.S. Air Force and served in WWII and Vietnam as a mechanic on cargo planes. He later worked on the plane that carried President Lyndon Johnson. Her momma, Lois, was a housewife and educator. From the foothills and hollers of Bristol, Tennessee/Virginia, they returned to Bristol after stops in Hawaii, New Jersey, and Maryland on different USAF assignments.

Growing up as a military kid, Jody attended several different schools, finally graduating from East High School in Sullivan County, TN, before attending nursing school. She was a flower child and hippie and hitch hiker and a wild cat.

She gave birth to the first of her three children, Shannon Renee Stoner, in February of 1972. Shannon, New Bloomington, Ohio, married Edwin Stoner and they have four children, Jody’s first grandbabies: Tyler (Natalie), Morgan (Aleks), Brock (Courtney), and Garrett (Trisha). Morgan has a son, Trenton, Jody’s first great-grandchild; Brock and Courtney are expecting the second great-grandchild this spring.

In July 1978, she bore a son, Robert Fredrick Imbody III who lives in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, with his wife, Dr. Erika Mason-Imbody and Jody’s southern granddaughters, Sadie and Josie.

Katheryn Joe Imbody Epley entered this world in May of 1981. She lives in Athens, Ohio, with her husband, Tim Epley and Jody’s youngest grandchildren, Annabel and Calvin.

She is survived by her cat, Tommy, and her ex-husbands, Scott Hartley (USAF Ret. Master Sgt.) who continued to be a friend and support for Jody, and Robert Imbody Jr.

She is proceeded in death by her first husband, Ronnie Justice and her loving parents.

Jody lived alone at the end of her life, something she enjoyed and loathed in equal measure. She loved flowers and tending them. She loved her stupid, mean, beautiful cat.

She will be missed but lives on in all who knew her.

In lieu of flowers, please consider becoming an organ donor, making a donation to a local pet shelter, and planting a garden of flowers wherever you are.

Jody’s family would like to express their deep gratitude for the staff at the Kobacker House and Riverside Methodist Hospital ICU, where everyone felt loved and cared for in Jody’s final days.

Jody had hoped to be an organ donor as her time on this planet ended. Due to the myriad medical issues, she faced at the end of her life we were unable to fulfill that wish.

Instead, she had asked to be cremated and have her remains stay with her family and visit some of her favorite places, especially her parent’s graves in Bristol, TN and the beach in Navarre, FL.