Joy A. Cronin

Wells - Joy Ann Cronin, beloved mother, grandmother "Nana", and sister, 76, left her loved ones on the morning of April 8th, 2020, at York Hospital after a brief illness. Joy was born in Lynn, MA to Norma Stevens McGovern and Joseph A O'Connor. She attended Saint Pius School, Nazareth Academy girls high school, while graduating from Lynn English High in 1962; graduating from Salem Hospital School of Nursing in 1964; and ending her career with the North Shore Physicians Group as a registered nurse before moving to Wells, ME. Joy resided in Swampscott, MA for many years where she raised her family, while being involved in the community. Joy loved spending time with her family and friends. Ensuring yearly gatherings with everyone, watching the grandchildren's sporting events, taking the grandchildren to the Ogunquit Playhouse to participate in events and enjoying the many gatherings of her friends throughout the years. Joy was a driven volunteer and philanthropist both in her local community and beyond. An active member of St. Mary's Church in Wells, ME, a dedicated volunteer for the York Chapter of Dream Factory for the critically ill, supported the Ogunquit Playhouse in many capacities including a museum docent, and was always willing to lend a caring hand to those who needed it. Joy was a passionate skier since the age of 5, starting at Cranmore Mountain in North Conway, NH. She loved golfing and enjoyed kayaking the York River, biking and nice walks on Ogunquit Beach. Joy will always be remembered for her independence, compassion towards her family and friends, her daredevil ski adventures, and her fierce determination to make her own adventures. She is survived by her three sons, Timothy P Cronin and his wife Amy of National Harbor, MD, Christopher B Cronin and his wife Julie of Newburyport, MA, and Patrick B Cronin of Portland, ME. Along with her five grandchildren, Courtney, Kailey, Hannah, Dalton, Connor; and her two siblings, Steve O'Connor and his wife Sue of South Portland, ME, and Terry Leake and her husband Chris of Marblehead, MA. She is also survived by many, much loved nieces, nephews and other family members. Unfortunately since my mother's passing over four months ago little progress has been made to eliminate or control the pandemic associated with Covid-19 in these eight to nine months. My mother's brother, Steve O'Connor has worked with St. Mary's Church in Wells, ME to have a service for my mother on Friday, August 28th at 4PM (EST). The service will be performed in accordance with Maine Covid-19 requirements therefore restricting the in person attendance. I know my mother touched many lives and there are probably quite a few people that would like to have attended this service. For those of you that could not attend due to the States' restrictions, the risk to the safety and security of your family, empathy for others or just simply too far away St. Mary's will be live streaming the service. You can either watch it from their website or from their Facebook page (both links are on their website here: https://holyspiritme.org/mass-live). Another wonderful thing Steve has done with input from the family is to create a great video of my mother's life. That video can be found on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSmMzWcGXgE Arrangements are under the direction of the Conroy-Tully Walker Funeral Home, 172 State Street, Portland. It is her wish that donations be made in her memory. She would want us to mention: The Salvation Army, 297 Cumberland Avenue, Portland, ME 04101 (https://www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn/ways-to-give/) and Dream Factory York Chapter, P.O. Box 653, Cape Neddick, ME 03902 (https://dreamfactoryinc.org/yorkmaine/).