Jocelyn Rosemary Mauerhoff

Jocelyn (Joy) Rosemary Mauerhoff, age 82 of Maryville, Tennessee, passed away peacefully on April 2, 2025 at VHC Health (Virginia Hospital Center), Arlington, VA. Her husband Georg Robert Mauerhoff and her brother John Alexander Martin Andison were by Joy’s side as she battled the effects of a SAH (subarachnoid hemorrhage, i.e. a ruptured brain aneurysm/cerebral hemorrhage). The hemorrhage occurred while the couple were boarding a flight to Madrid, Spain at Washington Dulles International Airport on the evening of March 31, 2025. In celebration of their birthdays earlier in April, they were planning to join a tour that focused on the Spanish Civil War.

Jocelyn was born on April 18,1942 in Preston, England to Edith Mary Pearson and Alexander Wilson Andison who both predeceased their daughter, along with her older brother Jeremy Augustus Wilson Andison who passed away in 1986 at age 42. Joy and Georg had no children but enjoy the loving support of Jeremy’s wife Susan Elaine Andison (nee Arnold), Martin’s wife Leslie Anne Scott, nephews (Jeremy Alexander Scott Andison, Timothy Alexander Gordon Andison,) and nieces (Caroline Eizabeth Scott Andison, Jennifer Elaine Heynen (nee Andison)).

After earning her B.A. Honours (English) at the University of Manitoba in 1964, Joy went on to graduate with Bachelor of Library Science at McGill University in 1965.

For the next two years, Joy was Reference Librarian at the London Public Library and Art Museum, London, Ontario before returning to Montreal’s Sir George Williams University (later becoming Concordia University). There she worked her way through various positions from June 1966 to November 1972, ending as Head, Science and Engineering Library.

While Head of Library Services at the federal Dept of Communications in Ottawa from November 1972 to April 1974, Joy met and fell madly in love with Georg, a librarian at the National Science Library, National Research Council while Georg was teaching a course on computer-aided information storage, search and retrieval. Shortly after their wedding (February 20, 1973) she accompanied her husband on an around-the-world working trip. The trip focused on transferring information technology to like-minded organizations in South Africa (CSIRO), Australia (National Library) and New Zealand (Parliamentary Library).

Brief stints at the Canadian Communications Research Information Centre (CCRIC) at the Canadian Commission for UNESCO, the Intergovernmental Committee on Urban and Regional Research (ICURR) in Toronto, the Ontario Legislative Library’s Research and Information Services were followed by the challenges of being Manager of Administration, Research and Information Services at the Toronto office of McKinsey & Company, a leading international consulting firm. Joy got things done here between 1982-1985 before being lured away to the advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather (Canada) Ltd., Toronto to lead the company’s Marketing Intelligence Service. In 1989 she was named Vice President & Secretary, O&M (Canada) Ltd., and a year later in December was asked to transfer to New York, NY to become Senior Vice President, Development & Administration, The Ogilvy & Mather Group Inc. There she looked after the largest family she would ever encounter – more than 2000 employees in her care as Human Resources Manager. She continued in this position (even after relocating to Naples, FL following the events of 9/11) until her retirement in 2002.

It is worth pointing out that while working in the U.S. starting in December 1990, Joy and her husband commuted regularly by air between New York and Toronto (their official residence). This continued until both applied for and received their Permanent Resident Cards (aka “green cards”). Georg joined Joy in New York on August 29,1998 full-time, with both happy to put an end to the weekly commute.

Joy and Georg moved to Maryville, TN in 2016 where they had their hands full happily assuming the responsibilities that go with owning and main-taining a large home and garden. The responsibility was made easier with both people passionate about house cleaning and gardening.

Joy’s major interests included reading (magazines: The New Yorker, The Guardian, The Spectator; books, especially biographies, politics, history, literature, travel, fiction and general science). The ‘must reads’ were anything written about climbing the thin air of Mount Everest and other peaks, and exploring outer space. But she took books and bookmarks (when available) to a whole new level by also building a wonderful personal library and growing that library as she relocated over the years, including writing reviews of books she had read in special blank writing books and recording them in a spreadsheet. So too with coloring as Joy completed the entire ‘Lost Ocean’ by Johanna Basford (72+ pages, September 5, 2020), ‘Enchanted Forest”, and most of ‘Secret Garden’. Through all of this she managed to leave behind a whole host of unused coloring pencils.

As for another of her passions, Joy loved doing exhaustive research on potential travel opportunities and then writing about her actual experiences as they journeyed far and wide. Plus, she would want to acquire a tea towel or two from countries visited to be reminded each time you dried the dishes of the wonderful sights, sounds and tastes experienced there. Recent travel took Joy and Georg to: Malta, Poland/Berlin, Italy (Naples Bay), Croatia/Montenegro, Albania/N. Greece/Macedonia, Egypt, Dubai, Sri Lanka , India, Viet Nam/Cambodia. Earlier in their careers and when younger, travel took them to England/Wales, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland to experience the rich history and also undertake the countries’ challenging walking/hiking offerings to build their confidence but also their appetite. Additionally, they visited Bermuda, Jamaica, Prague/Czechia, Italy, Tokyo/Japan, Istanbul/Turkey, Morocco, and Portugal.

Sadly, a trip to Spain eluded Joy and Georg in 2025.

The United States received equal travel attention over the years (especially Civil War sites) as they drove to Chester, VT from Naples, FL for Georg’s employer’s annual sales meeting. Not to be overlooked and forgotten was cruising down the intra-coastal waterway with her dear friend Barbara Barrett in July 1991, a truly adventurous undertaking. However, Naples was such a pivotal city in Joy’s life producing many lasting friendships: Patricia Kinder, Betty Bates, Jackie Maloney, Marie Walsh, and many others.

But it was Joy’s love of cooking/wine pairing that shone above most things she did – other than keeping her friendships in good repair. As she and Georg would agree -- “why go out to eat when the best restaurant was right at hand.” Dinners became such an important aspect of her final years that she would celebrate Cinq-a-sept (five to seven) each day and dress for the occasion – her ‘Cinderella Moment’ as Georg called it. After all what was not to celebrate? But only after enjoying a soothing bubble bath – her ‘Spa’ moment.

A soulmate who worked hard at making a happy home, Joy pursued projects tirelessly. She kept incorporating facts, commentary, and family news and tidbits and other findings as she came across them into her father’s memoir: “Dad, a Life”. She had always talked about publishing a book based on her observations and experiences at work, and had maintained handwritten files on successes and failures in a 3-ring binder but she never quite got around to it. Although Joy never drove a car once she moved to Tennessee (after a slight bumper experience in Naples, FL), she had obtained her driver’s license renewal in Manhattan, New York City of all places at age 60.

A cancer survivor (>25 years), a problem solver, a demure people person who always put others ahead of herself, a team player, a good listener and hungry learner unafraid of the unknowns in life, a fast learner with a high energy level (even at age 82/83) and a wordsmith/writer who could unravel the most difficult and challenging communications hurdles and apply a most satisfying/soothing salve to an e-mail, a birthday card, a letter of recommendation, and all sorts of other correspondence. This also proved valuable as she tackled crosswords and other mind-challenging word games. Sadly she didn’t know it at the time but she would play her final round of NYT’s Spelling Bee in the United Polaris Lounge at Dulles that afternoon.

Joy will be greatly missed by her soulmate but by all who were close to her.