Joyce Katherine Hodgins (1956 - 2020)

Born 4 Nov 1956 in Ottawa, Carleton, Ontario, Canada

Ancestors

Died 22 Mar 2020 at age 63 in South Frontenac, Frontenac, Ontario, Canada

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Alan Boyce [send private message]

Biography

Joyce Katherine Hodgins was a friend, a colleague, a sister, a wife, a mother. Many people were touched by Joyce’s 63 years here. She was always ready to meet new people, experience new travel adventures, discover new plants and birds, and to just be there for whoever needed her. Joyce could bring out the best in anyone and was always well prepared for her next adventure. She left her friends and family with loving and inspiring memories of book clubs, cycling trips, swim club, yoga sessions, and swimming, kayaking, and skating at Mississippi and Fourteen Island Lakes.

Joyce was born in Ottawa, Ontario on November 4, 1956, and raised there, along with her sister and four brothers. She attended Our Lady of Fatima Elementary School and Immaculata High School. Following Grade 11, Joyce spent a summer working in a Native community in Northern Manitoba, which helped confirm her calling to a nursing career. She completed a Nursing degree at Lakehead University in 1979 and served as a Registered Nurse for four months in a Native Community in New Osnaburgh, Ontario.

Joyce formed lasting friendships during her time at Lakehead and always looked forward to the reunions of her graduating class.

She returned to Ottawa following her graduation and nursed in the Intensive Care Units at the Ottawa Civic Hospital and then CHEO before spending 30 years with Ottawa Public Health, again forming lasting friendships.

Joyce developed a love of travel following her Lakehead graduation when she and three friends spent four months touring Europe. In 1981, she met Alan Boyce, a kindred spirit. Together, they spent six months touring Netherlands, Germany, Yugoslavia, Greece, Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, England, and Wales, all in the infamous VW bus. After a journey like that, it was obvious that they would marry, and in 1985 they continued the adventure together. After a few years, two children arrived and their family was complete.

When the children were old enough, they accompanied Joyce and Alan on trips throughout Canada, to the United States, as well as to Bermuda, France, the United Kingdom, and cycling in the Netherlands. After her retirement, travelling with friends or family, Joyce added more trips, including Atlanta, Florida, California, Arizona, and Costa Rica.

Joyce enjoyed the planning and the anticipation of each trip just as much as the actual travel. Trips were always costed out in detail. She wasn’t one to spend money needlessly.

And whether at home or abroad, she enjoyed art shows, craft sales, wine tastings, church bazaars, garden shows, lunches, movies, sharing recipes, quiet lattes or glasses of wine on the dock. Joyce was always up for whatever was happening and was always on the hunt for the next outing.

Joyce was the biggest cheerleader of her children, quietly offering her support and advice, and was so proud of their accomplishments.

Joyce passed away suddenly of unknown causes at the age of 63, on March 22, 2020, at her home on Fourteen Island Lake, South Frontenac, Ontario. Her ashes are interred with her parents at St. Patrick’s Cemetery in Fallowfield (Ottawa), Ontario. (Plot 3C-8-2)

Sources

• Alan Boyce. Personal recollection, 29 Dec 2021.

• Ottawa Citizen Obituary, 28 Mar 2020.

• Eulogy written by Debra Hamilton, September 2022.