Joyce Kirby Erlandsen

Joyce Kirby Erlandsen, 77, found comfort from her brief illness as she passed peacefully on April 20, 2015 with family present in Hartford. Joyce was raised in Columbus, New Jersey, but has been a resident of Glastonbury, Connecticut, since 1966 where she raised her three surviving children, Kirsten Erlandsen Eckert, Kirby A. Erlandsen and Kyle P. Erlandsen with her former husband, Peter. Besides her children, she is survived by her sister, Janice K. Miller, her brother Raymond C. Kirby; her grandchildren: Brennan, Mary Katharine, Caroline and Quinn Erlandsen, Anders and Lockwood Erlandsen, and Kyle and Audrey Eckert, and her children’s spouses, Nicholas Eckert, Kathleen Gimpel and Jennifer Street.

Joyce was the daughter of Raymond and Mildred Kirby. She earned her Bachelor’s degree at Mary Washington College, and went on to teach in Quantico, Virginia and Montclair, New Jersey before settling with her family in Connecticut. She enjoyed an active life, which included alpine skiing and teaching her children to ski in Vermont, playing competitive, but friendly, tennis and engaging in quite a few serious games of bridge. She loved the ocean and being at the beach, and had particularly fond memories of time spent on the New Jersey Shore.

Joyce was a longtime member of the Congregational Church in South Glastonbury and spent her recent years in service, as a volunteer driver for people with special needs.

Former employers include University of Hartford and Automatic TLC Energy.

Services will be held June 13 at 11AM, at South Congregational Church, 949 Main Street in South Glastonbury, CT 06073.

The family requests that memorial donations in Joyce’s name be made to The Dana Farber Cancer Institute Early Drug Development Center, PO Box 849168 Boston, MA 02284 or to South Church.

To leave an online condolence, please visit www.glastonburyfuneral.com.