A true free spirit, Joie was enormous fun. She lived an often extremely difficult but adventurous life, with a seemingly endless number of stories to tell. I met her on Digital Journal, and we soon got to know each other socially.
That turned out to be a very good idea for me. With her fabulous dog Zorro, a huge King Shepherd, and her two brilliant granddaughters Sayvia and Chayla, it was a hoot. It’s amazing what you can do with a few Skype calls, and we had incredible fun. I am literally still laughing, over a decade later, about a few things, notably one of Zorro’s escapades.
We had a few strange and wonderful incidents of our own. One day, I was on the phone and she let me hear a howling gale during the big ice freeze in Toronto some years back, around -40C. I let her hear the howling gale we were having in Sydney, about 42C. We had some fantastic chats.
We used to talk regularly. She told me that one day Zorro went over to the phone and looked at it, and looked at her. She said, “No, he won’t be awake yet.” That sort of relationship.
There was always something and she always had her own perspective. She had an original take on anything and everything, particularly life’s little impossibilities. I remember commenting sarcastically to some incident that she must be “well adjusted” to deal with it. “Adjusted to WHAT?” was the reply.
Some people don’t fit easy descriptions, and Joie certainly didn’t. Her family was always first and it was wonderful to see in so many ways. Later she was given more joy by her two grandsons, Vincenzo and Angelo. I’d hear stories of the boys’ adventures, and she was truly happy with them. She remained very proud of her granddaughters, who have gone on to be accomplished young women.
Joie will truly be “sorely missed” by her friends. One of a kind, by any standards. I’d like to express my deepest sympathies to her kids Lenny and Melissa and the rest of her family at this difficult time.
