Brenda M. Joyce

SOUTH ROYALTON—Brenda M. Joyce, 69, died at home Monday, Jan. 21, 2007 after a battle with breast cancer.

The daughter of the late Dr. Daniel and Mary (Logan) Joyce, she was born in Woburn, Mass. and educated at St. Charles School, graduating with the Class of 1955. From childhood, she loved sports. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Physical Education at St. Catherine’s College in St. Paul, Minn.

She began her teaching and coaching career in Cambridge, Mass. After living briefly in Arizona, she taught Physical Education in the Woburn, Mass. public schools and coached the basketball, softball, cheerleading, field hockey and swim teams.

She later focused only on field hockey, basketball and softball. In 1972 and again in 1976 her basketball teams won the Middlesex Championships, and went on to the state tournaments.

She loved animals and also loved Vermont. In the late 1960s, she acquired her farm in Vermont. She became co-owner of Royalton Hill Kennel, where she was able to have horses, dogs, cats, and Hereford cattle. When she retired in 1988, she moved there permanently.

She began tutoring at the South Royalton School and worked for Upper Valley Services, and the John Dunn House in Lebanon, N.H.

In addition to her parents, she was predeceased by an aunt, Marie Joyce; and a cousin, Sr. Bernadette Joyce SND.

Survivors include two sisters: Maureen Nobel and her husband, John "Jack" of Winchester, Mass.; and Sheila Greenlaw and her husband, Don, of Woburn, Mass.; a brother, Atty. Daniel L. Joyce Jr. and his wife, Beverly, of Westford, Mass.; and 10 nieces, nephews and grandnieces and nephews.

Funeral services will be Saturday, Jan. 27 at 9 a.m., from the Lynch-Cantillon Funeral Home, 263 Main Street, Woburn, Mass., followed by a funeral mass at St. Charles Church, 280 Main Street in Woburn at 10 a.m. Interment will be in Calvary Cemetery in Woburn. Calling hours at the funeral home will be Friday from 4-8 p.m.

Memorial donations may be made to the Woburn High School Scholarship Fund, PO Box 202, Woburn, Mass. 01801.

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