Obituary of Joyce Hale

Joyce Pendergast Hale, 85, of Glastonbury, silently let go her mooring line and drifted with the outgoing tide before hoisting the rigging and setting sail for celestial shores in the early hours of Monday, July 8. She was born July 27, 1927, to William J. and Lenora Noonan Pendergast in Gardner, MA and grew up in Dedham, MA. She had one brother, William J. Pendergast, DMD, of Marion, MA, who pre-deceased her. "Joy" is survived by her husband of 62 years, the Honorable Robert J. Hale, three of their four children, and ten grandchildren. Their son Jonathan Mark Hale died in 1973, at age 18. Their living children and grandchildren are: Attorney Robert J. Hale, Jr. and his sons, Winston and Daniel, and step-daughters, Cheryl O'Connor and Laura Belancik.; her daughter Loren E. Hale-Sutton and her husband, Samuel Sutton, of Columbus, OH, and their daughters, Sara, Nikki and Nora Sutton; and her son, Timothy Britt Hale and his wife Nancy Rowland Hale, of Windham, NH, and their sons Jonathan, Casey and Christopher. Joy graduated from Dedham High School, in Dedham, MA, and Albertus Magnus College in New Haven, CT, where she met her husband, Bob, who was studying at Yale Law School. She worked in cancer research at Harvard College in Cambridge, MA, before she and Bob married in 1951. From that point on until her children were grown, Joy dedicated herself to her husband and her children. She was active in the Glastonbury Parent-Teacher Association, Orchard Hill Swim Club, where all of her children competed, and was a Cub Scout Den Mother. After the death of her son Jonathan, she and Bob instituted the Jonathan Hale Memorial Scholarship for creative music education, and Joy took a personal interest in each of the award recipients. After her children graduated high school, Joy went back to work as a substitute teacher in the Glastonbury Schools, where she took a special interest in tutoring students who needed extra help with their schoolwork. In more recent years, she volunteered as a docent at the Wadsworth Atheneum Art Museum in Hartford, where she delighted in introducing groups of students to great art, and FISH of Glastonbury, where she assisted elderly and handicapped people by driving them to medical appointments, etc. Joy was an active member of the Glastonbury Art Guild, the Hill and Dale Garden Club of Glastonbury, Orchard Hill Swim Club, Baldwin Yacht Club and North Cove Yacht Club. She and Bob were skillful and courageous sailors, who navigated the waters between Bar Harbor, Maine and New York City, and instilled in their children and grandchildren a love of the sea. Joy and Bob were also fortunate enough to travel extensively, together and with friends, to the Carribean islands and to many continents. When her children were younger, before they got into boating, Joy and Bob took the whole family on car camping trips throughout New England, and across the U.S.A., visiting and tenting in many National Parks and National Forests. In addition to being an art lover, Joy was also an artist in her own right. In addition to watercolor painting, Joy created papier mache Halloween costumes for her children, masquerade party costumes for herself and Bob, and decorated her home with hand-made curtains, finely crafted upholstery and wall stencils. She was an excellent cook and a consummate hostess. Everything was made from scratch and everyone was always welcome! Having studied biology and pre-med in college, Joy was an instinctive naturalist. Her scientific enthusiasm for pollywogs, fireflys, turtles, snakes and other living things made her the one to whom children in the neighborhood would bring baby birds and baby squirrels who had fallen out of their nests, to be nursed back to health and eventually set free. While Joy always described herself as "lucky," she was also a tireless worker and a person who always thought of others before herself. She was a great support to her husband and her entire family, and a positive contributor to her church and her community. She was a sympathetic listener and friend, and a warm, welcoming, open person with a huge heart and a strong backbone. She could light up a room with her dancing eyes and her smile. She truly did embody her name. Yet she was, perhaps above all, a peace maker. She did what she could to bring people together. Those who knew her will strive to carry on in her traditions. Visiting hours will be Thursday, July 11, from 5:00 - 7:00 p.m., at Mulryan Funeral Home, 725 Hebron Ave., Glastonbury. A mass of Christian burial will be held Friday, July 12, at 11:00 a.m. at Saint Augustine's Catholic Church, 55 Hopewell Road, South Glastonbury. Burial will follow in St. Augustine Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, contributions in Joy's memory may be made to The Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT. For further details, please visit www.mulryanfh.com .