Joy T. Greig

Joy Greig died peacefully in her sleep on October 7, 2016, with her husband Bob and their three children, Elizabeth, Andrew and Katherine by her bedside.

Joy Greig was born on May 18, 1938, in Maidenhead, England. She was born Joy T. Ford to Alice Florence Ford (Blick) and Hugh Cecil Treleaven Ford. Her father was a fireman during WWII, and her mother was a seamstress. Joy and I met in the summer of 1951 at the local swimming pool and loosely kept in touch until 1962. Joy left high school in 1956 and went to the Middlesex Hospital in London, taking a certificate in the treatment of cancer with radiation therapy. She worked first at Middlesex, then moved to the Royal Sussex Hospital in Brighton.

When we met again in 1962, I invited her to a party in London that evening. She went home and asked her mother. The answer was “yes” and we have been together ever since. We married on March 14, 1964. We had a very simple wedding before a judge, then danced the night away at the Maidenhead Rowing Club.

We moved to an apartment in Twickenham and Joy began working at St. Thomas’ Hospital in London. Our older daughter, Elizabeth, was born in April, 1965. Joy started delivering Meals on Wheels, taking Elizabeth with her in the car. We moved to the U.S. in September, 1965, to a duplex house in Lewisdale, Md. We stayed there for a year or more, then moved to the apartments behind Prince George’s Plaza. Andrew was born in March, 1967, and we moved to Greenbelt in 1968. We stayed in Greenbelt until June of 1970. We sailed back to England on the QEII. In June 1973 I secured a job with the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. So we came back to Greenbelt and bought what was then known as the Skillman House at 103 Northway, where we have been for 43 years. We raised our children Elizabeth, Andrew and Katherine (who was born in April, 1974), and were in the process of retiring here.

Joy was a stay-at-home mom for a total of 12 years. During that time we both did a lot of volunteering. We were both heavily involved  in Greenbelt  swim team. Joy maintained a supply of team swimsuits so our swimmers came to the house to try on and purchase their suits. When Joy became the circulation manager for the Greenbelt News Review all the carriers came to our house on Thursdays to pick up papers for their routes. When carriers did not show up, Andrew and I delivered their papers. Joy was also an early member of Greenbelt Intergenerational Volunteer Exchange Services (GIVES), mostly driving people to and from appointments. She was also a volunteer with Greenbelt Association for Independent Living (GAIL).

Joy felt she was wasting her professional training staying at home, so thinking she would have to do some re-training, she called George Washington University (GWU) in answer to an ad they had in the Washington Post. This was a Thursday in March 1977, and Kate was not yet three. Joy started work at GWU the following Monday, after a hectic scramble to get Kate into daycare. From then on Joy worked full-time until about 2000, at GWU, Georgetown University and the National Cancer Institute, where she was very proud to be chief therapist. She also worked various freestanding therapy clinics.

Joy always liked to sew, knit and crochet; I guess she learned a lot from her mother. When Elizabeth got married, Joy made the wedding dress and three bridesmaid’s dresses. She was one very proud mother.

Over the years, Joy enjoyed visiting and camping in Shenandoah National Park and visiting Ocean City. She also seemed to enjoy our camping trips to Florida. Originally, these trips involved the whole family, but as the children grew and dispersed, it became just Joy and I.

Joy suffered from vascular dementia and before that, depression. The dementia started to have an effect about 11 years ago, but became really evident over four years ago. Joy remained functional through August, 2016. She had an indoor walker, an outdoor walker, a wheelchair and more recently, a handicapped mobility scooter that she rode on the boardwalk in Ocean City in August.

Visitation will be Sunday, October 23 from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Borgwardt Funeral Home in Beltsville. A reception follows at the Greig home afterwards. - Bob Greig