Photo courtesy of Trussville City Schools.
Joy Tyner was the principal of Cahaba Elementary for a decade.
There are schools where students simply attend. And then there are schools where children are celebrated, encouraged and loved.
Over the past decade, Cahaba Elementary School became that kind of place under the leadership of Principal Joy Tyner. She built more than a successful school — she built a culture where every child felt seen, every teacher felt inspired and every day was worth celebrating.
Shortly after retiring at the end of the 2025-26 school year, Tyner died June 30 at age 62, following a brief battle with neuroendocrine carcinoma.
In the days that followed, an outpouring of love from students, parents, teachers and colleagues stretched across Alabama and Mississippi, reflecting a career in education that spanned 39 years and touched thousands of lives.
Photo courtesy of Danny Garrett.
Joy Tyner accepts a grant check from Alabama State Representative Danny Garrett in 2017.
For those who knew her, however, Tyner’s greatest accomplishment was never measured by awards or school report cards.
It was measured by the innumerable lives she touched.
“The absolute greatest thing about Cahaba Elementary is the culture,” Tyner told the Cahaba Sun during a 2024 interview. “When you walk in the doors of the school, it feels different. It’s a happy place. It’s an inclusive place, and we celebrate kids every single day. I love being here.”
She lived those words.
Tyner knew the names of the school’s more than 500 students. She celebrated birthdays and milestones. She rang a Mississippi State cowbell through the hallways whenever there was something worth cheering — which, in her mind, was often. She believed children only get one chance to be kids, and school should be filled with joy, belonging and unforgettable moments.
“Every day held something new and exciting,” Cahaba Elementary teacher Amanda Pennington told WBRC. “Whether it was a spur-of-the-moment plan or something she had pre-planned, Joy loved to celebrate life, learning, students. And you felt that when you walked in the building.”
Pennington said Tyner inspired teachers and students to accomplish more than they thought possible, while fellow teacher Sarah Jackson said she held students to high expectations because she loved them so deeply.
Tyner never expected education to become her life’s work.
She often joked she attended Mississippi State University “wanting to ring a cowbell,” not necessarily to become a teacher. But everything changed when she met her first classroom full of students.
“It wasn’t until I met my first class,” Tyner said. “They were the inspiration, and every year after that it’s the kids.”
After beginning her career in Mississippi classrooms, Tyner served as a teacher, assistant principal and principal before moving to Alabama in 2016 to become the founding principal of the newly reimagined Cahaba Elementary School.
Under her leadership, Cahaba consistently earned an A rating from the state and became one of Alabama’s top-performing elementary schools. Yet those who worked alongside her rarely begin by talking about academics.
They talk about the atmosphere she created.
“The most rewarding part of this job is knowing that we’re the foundation,” Tyner told the Cahaba Sun. “We’re giving these students everything they need to be successful in the future, and it starts with celebrating them, letting them know they’re appreciated, setting high expectations and giving them opportunities to serve and learn leadership skills.”
Trussville City Schools Superintendent Patrick Martin said no one advocated harder for students.
“I cannot think of a bigger advocate for students and Cahaba Elementary School than Joy Tyner,” Martin said. “No one fought harder for students.”
That commitment is already becoming part of her legacy.
Just two days after Tyner’s death, the Trussville City Schools Board of Education voted to name Cahaba’s planned outdoor learning space the Joy Tyner Outdoor Classroom. Tyner had worked with the district’s architect to help design the area, envisioning a place where children could learn outdoors, unplug from technology and simply enjoy being kids.
Even in retirement, she was planning for students she would never meet.
Trussville Mayor Ben Short called Tyner “more than a principal.”
“She was a steady presence, a caring leader and a source of encouragement for countless students, parents, teachers and staff members,” Short wrote. “Her love for the children of Cahaba Elementary was evident in the way she led, the way she served and the way she made every child feel seen and valued.”
Her obituary, written by her family, described a woman whose Christian faith sustained her through profound personal loss, including the deaths of daughters Perry Tyner Tate and Molly Tyner Boland.
Former Trussville administrator Anjell Edwards said Tyner’s faith was evident to everyone who knew her.
“I remember admiring her strength as she dealt with personal loss and grief,” Edwards said. “I often observed her share about her unshakable faith in Christ.”
William Tyner, Joy’s husband of nearly 42 years, said the sign in Joy’s office read, “Work Hard and Be Nice.”
“It should have read, ‘Work Hard and Love Everyone,’” he wrote. “That was Joy Triggs Tyner.”
During her interview with the Cahaba Sun, Tyner reflected on the teacher who changed her life: her fifth grade teacher, Miss Norris.
“She told us we were brilliant,” Tyner said. “She told us we were the best, and I was a good writer, and I believed her. She empowered me to keep on and to think I was something special.”
For the thousands of children who walked through the doors of Cahaba Elementary, Joy Tyner spent the next four decades giving that same gift.
She built a school where children felt seen and celebrated and believed they could become something special.
And that is undoubtedly the legacy that matters most.
