LENHOFF – We regret to inform you of the passing of Joyce Maddy Lenhoff Bason of St. Marys from this life and to her heavenly reward at 10:10 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2022, in Jacksonville at the age of 93.
Joyce was born April 9, 1929, in Hinton, W.Va., a small railroad town near the scenic Greenbrier River and New River Gorge, to Frederick Leftwich Maddy (1903-88) and Mildred Belcher Maddy (1908-95). Her father was proprietor of several local businesses of some repute, including a Sherwin-Williams paint store and the local drug store and soda foundation.
After graduating from Hinton High School, she matriculated into and subsequently graduated from Asbury College in Lexington, Ky., with a B.S. degree in biology.
It was during her time in Hinton that she met her first husband and father of her children, Harry Ralph Lenhoff, a talented pianist and trombonist and jazz aficionado from Miami who had been hired by the high school to serve as band director and music teacher. They met at the soda foundation Mr. Maddy owned, where Joyce was working during breaks from college, and soon their budding romance blossomed into marriage, on July 11, 1951 (the same month and day Mr. and Mrs. Maddy had wed some years earlier).
The newlyweds lived in an apartment in downtown Hinton. Their first child, Lynne, was born in 1952, followed by Neal (1954), Michelle (1958), Kim (1959-61) and Frederick (1962). The growing family moved from Hinton in 1953 to Wadesboro, N.C., followed by a sojourn in Virginia Beach, Va., and finally Jacksonville, Fla., in 1967. It was there that Harry worked for a piano and organ sales firm and played at a jazz bar in the evenings. To help make ends meet, and put her baccalaureate to use, Joyce began working for the Florida Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), providing services to underserved individuals in the Jacksonville area and working her way up to a supervisory position during her 25-year tenure.
Sadly, Harry developed Alzheimer’s disease in the mid-1970s and spent his final years in a nursing home; he passed away in 1983. Joyce met and fell in love with Bill Bason, a self-professed Jacksonville “beach bum” and former World War II fighter pilot. With the adult children having left home, Joyce and Bill moved to Jacksonville Beach and embarked upon a business to collect and bag seashells as souvenirs for tourists at local hotels.
In 1997, after Joyce’s retirement from HHS, Joyce and Bill moved to a newly built house near the St. Marys historic district, where she lived the remainder of her years. Bill passed away in 2000. In St. Marys, Joyce quickly distinguished herself as an active member of the community, through her involvement in the local Kiwanis chapter, St. Marys Little Theater, and the St. Marys United Methodist Church. Throughout her retirement, she traveled frequently, including trips throughout the continental U.S. and to Alaska, France, Germany and Italy, as well as to Atlanta, Jacksonville and Chicago to visit her beloved children and grandchildren (and, recently, her great-grandchild).
Joyce lived independently in her St. Marys home until her very last days and stayed up to date on technology; she was an inveterate texter on the family group chat and was quick with a quip and a word of wisdom and love. One of her family’s treasured memories is sitting on her front porch in rocking chairs and enjoying the view of the St. Marys River and the companionship of an amazing, accomplished, affectionate woman. She could be seen riding around town in her golf cart on her way to various functions and events. She was the matriarch of the family and will be greatly missed by all whose lives she touched within her extended family.
Joyce is survived by four of her five children, Lynne Donohoe (Bob), Neal Lenhoff (Matt), Michelle O’Rourke (Pat) and Frederick Lenhoff; five grandchildren, Ryan Donohoe (Stephanie), Erin Donohoe, Shealen O’Rourke (Page), Colleen O’Rourke and Clarisse Donini-Lenhoff; and one great-grandchild, Oliver Charles O’Rourke.
The ceremony celebrating her life and recognizing her legacy will be 2 p.m. Monday, Oct. 17, at St. Marys United Methodist Church. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial donations be made to: St. Marys United Methodist Church (to be donated to the Share a Meal program), 106 Conyers Street E, St Marys, GA 31558; the Kiwanis Club of St. Marys, Chris Thurner, Treasurer (to be donated to the Ukraine Kiwanis), 202 W. Bryant Street, St. Marys, GA 31558; or St. Marys Little Theater, Barbara Ryan, 104 Bartlett Street, St Marys, GA 31558.