Joyce Eileen Tomlin Pizzichemi

Joyce Eileen Tomlin Pizzichemi, 87, of Mayfield PA, passed away Sunday morning, March 8, 2015 in hospice. She was the widow of the late John J. Pizzichemi who died in 1996. The couple was married 42 years.

Born in 1927 in London, England, the daughter of the late Henry E. and Daisy Hendry Tomlin, Joyce was 12 years old at the beginning of WWII and survived countless German air raids, and V1 and V2 attacks. Even years later, the sound of the nightly Mayfield curfew siren gave her flashbacks.

As a young woman in post-war London she spent her time with her best friend Sylvia, expanding her clothing and shoe collections, and going dancing almost every night. There is a family story of her sneaking into a window late one night only to find her mother standing there waiting for her. Although she vehemently denied it, this was confirmed by two of her three sisters. Over the years she tried unsuccessfully to show her children how to do the Jitter Bug.

In 1954 she met her husband John while he was stationed in London with the US Air Force. They married and moved to Mayfield PA soon after. She worked as a sales associate at Powers department store on Keyser Ave, Scranton from the day it opened to the day closed over 10 years later. She was an active member and former sergeant-at-arms of the Anglo-American Groundhog Society. And she returned to England twice to visit her family.

Joyce enjoyed crosswords, TV mysteries, clothes shopping, and anything covered in chocolate, especially Three Musketeer bars. She had a green thumb and couldn’t kill a plant if she tried. She was a good artist and her doodles of cats, bunnies, and people could be found on scraps of paper all over the house. She also had a lifetime love of old movies and knew every actor and actress from the 1940s to the present. She would often see these stars on the streets of London, though her favorite “star” sighting was Winston Churchill strolling in a park.

Joyce was also very open minded and always strived to be “with it” as she got older. She liked rock music, especially CheapTrick’s “I Want You to Want Me.”, and was caught once watching a Ted Nugent concert by herself. She was an avid reader and loved to discuss politics and social issues, where she usually held a very liberal stance for someone of her generation. She proudly contributed this to the fact that her mother was a suffragette in the early 1900s and chained herself to a fence in support of women’s rights. Having said that, she was still appalled by the length of the Beatles’ hair on the Ed Sullivan Show.

Joyce had an excellent sense of humor, and took it in stride when her kids jokingly threatened to have her deported when they got annoyed with her; when, for instance, being an excellent speller, she returned notes and letters from them with spelling corrections marked in red ink. But she was generous person and enjoyed “treating” her family to things since she considered cheapskates a lower life form.

Above all, Joyce loved to talk. She couldn’t go anywhere without meeting new people and holding hour conversations in the middle of the supermarket or doctor’s office with total strangers. When she talked to you she made you feel like the most interesting person she’d ever met. It can be sincerely said, that everyone who meet her, liked her. Her family, however, loved her and will miss her terribly.

She is preceded in death by her sisters; Alice Tomlin, Lillah Epps, Rose Bell, a brother Edward (Ted) Tomlin, and her beloved cat Puddins.

Surviving are a son Paul R. Pizzichemi, and his wife Laila, of Corvalis OR; a daughter Jane E. Gombita and her husband Robert of Carbondale, PA; a daughter Lisa A. Daley and her husband Shawn of Holly Springs, NC; grandchildren Amy L. Gombita, Emily L. Pizzichemi, and Lauren Pizzichemi; and several great nieces and nephews in England.

In lieu of flowers memorial contributions may be made to:
Blue Chip Farm Animal Refuge
974 Lockville Rd., Dallas, PA  18612
​bcfanimalrefuge@gmail.com
Tel:  570-333-5265

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