But she will be missed as much for her avocations, as for her career in writing.
She embraced archaeology in the 1970s. While field walking one day in the Franklin area, she spotted some shards of pottery which led to her discovery and later excavation of the Clark archaeological site. The excavation and her records of the pottery fragments she found at the site earned her a first-place award from the Archaeological Society of Ohio in 1977 for the best documented site, and a few years later she was approved for active membership in the Ohio Archaeological Council, a rare distinction usually reserved only for professional archaeologists.
Robert Cook, an assistant professor of anthropology at Ohio State University, Newark, came to know Joy when he and his students started work at the Clark site a couple of years ago.
“Her discovery and work on the Clark site has contributed immensely to the archaeology of southwestern Ohio,” he wrote in an e-mail. “The Clark site is one of a very few sites that date to the A.D. 700-1000 period, and her excavations there were exemplary.”
Cook said Joy “graciously shared” all the materials from the site, as he and his students were completing minor fieldwork. One of his honors students is currently analyzing all of the materials for a thesis to be completed next year.
“Joy was an excellent avocational archaeologist and human being. She will be sorely missed by all who had the pleasure to know her,” Cook said.
Her other passions were daylilies, horses and cats – she was a fervent proponent of animal protection – and travel. Her daylily garden grew to nearly 200 different varieties and was featured on the city’s garden tour. Cats were part of her family; she always seemed to have a few, and she would befriend neighborhood cats, too. Her bond with horses began when she was young – she was chair of the Middletown Horse Show in 1950 – and later she acquired an Arabian, her beloved Charlie. Caring for Charlie, in turn, led her to acupuncture, first as a treatment for her horse, and then in more recent years for herself. She took Elderhostel trips with Crozier, to such locales as Belize and New Zealand. Machu Picchu in Peru was her favorite destination, Crozier says; his own was Fairbanks, Alaska.
She and Crozier wed on June 13, 1953, and introduced their best friends to each other, and they, in turn, fell in love and married. In following years, the two couples – Joy and Crozier, and Beth and Dick Heil – celebrated every New Year’s Eve together. Joy and Crozier have three daughters, Debbie, Linda and Susan, who died from cancer last year, and there are five grandchildren, Kim, Aaron, Adam, Sam and Audrey. Debbie remembers her mother as a skilled seamstress, sewing matching clown outfits for her daughters one Halloween.
Her belief in the Baha’i religion was also an important part of Joy’s life. She embraced Baha’i because she said its philosophy of spiritual unity made sense to her. She was a longtime member.
However, writing was the passion which most sustained her throughout her life, not just professionally but emotionally. She started writing short stories as a student at Middletown High School and continued as an undergraduate at Denison University. One of her stories, “Resignation,” won first prize in the Denison short story contest. She joined the editorial staff of The Journal in 1964, and for the next 29 years, she covered many subjects: to name just a few, the Blue Angels, actor-singer John Raitt – a favorite because she had been a member of his fan club – and reports of UFOs. She always seemed to form close bonds with her sources, earning their respect for her willingness to listen, her compassion and her ability to “nose out a story.” At her retirement party in 1993, Col. Thomas Rice of the Ohio Highway Patrol presented her with a certificate of recognition for her coverage.
Much of her writing in later years was personal — poetry and reflections on her life. After she retired in 1993, she joined the Middletown Poetry Club and would share her writing with members there. She continued to compose short stories. Her last published work was “A Bend in the Road,” which was published by the Rocky Mountain Rider magazine in July 2004. In it she writes of her memories of a Madison Twp. stable and riding an old gelding named Grey Dawn. She wrote: “He never yielded to the passing of winters. He reached 30, the story went, but still he would not give in to age. ... Now I count my own winters and see how time has changed so much.”
Joy will be remembered for going at life “full blast” and for sharing her gifts so graciously.
Phyllis Cox is a former reporter and editor who worked with Joy Jones.