Joan Norris

Joan Norris, 83, the widow of Raymond James Larsen, was a writer better known as “the cat lady” who rescued or aided over 19,000 cats and kittens along with help from veterinarians Rick Averill, Charlie Patterson and the late Brad Moses, among many others. She also spent endless hours trapping colonies of feral cats to get them spayed and neutered. She leaves behind her son Mark Fellenz and his partner Gwen Wilmes, daughter Jennifer Fellenz, sister Cathy Cardwell and husband Charles, niece Amy Cardwell and husband Richard Deaderick III, and cherished friends Donna Toma, Becky Yucius, Michelle Johnson, and Wendy Lundell. Joan was the daughter of the late Margaret C. Shay and Joseph A. Norris.

Joan was born in New York City on January 6, 1943. She enjoyed a career in the arts, spending ten years each at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. In 1980, she opened The Last Resort Cat Shelter, which she called her hobby “gone out of control.” She died in the early morning on August 15, 2026.

She graduated from Alfred University in 1964, studied and taught at the University of Dayton, and then attended poetry workshops led by Mark Strand at Brandies University, Anne Sexton at Boston University and others. She was named the Transatlantic Scholar in poetry at the Broadleaf Writers Conference, and published book reviews in the Boston Globe and articles in other newspapers and magazines.

She ran Joan Norris Ink, a public relations company where she had the pleasure of promoting many writers and artists, among them poet Mark Strand, novelists Richard Yates and Robert Parker, and the photographer Ansel Adams.

Memorial donations may be made in Joan’s name to charities helping immigrants during these turbulent times.

Celebration for both Joan and Ray will be held at Sullivan Funeral Homes, 551Washington St. (Route 53), Hanover, MA on Wednesday, September 16, 2026 from 4-8PM.