Joy Scarlett

Joy Scarlett

Joy Lloyd Scarlett, 78, Villas, N.J., and Bismarck, died Sunday, April 23, at Penn Presbyterian Hospital, Philadelphia, after a brief illness.

She was born and raised in Dennisville but also lived in Millville,N.J., Dorchester,N.J., Rio Grande, N.J., and Green Creek, N.J., during her life. She had recently begun a move to Bismarck.

Joy was employed by Menz's Restaurant in Millville and later worked at Fort Apache Campground in Rio Grande and Menz's Restaurant in Rio Grande, where she retired as a bookkeeper.

One of 12 children raised during the Depression, she became a generous benefactor to family and friends, as well as countless charities, especially Children International and the St. Labre Indian School. She gave freely to anyone she knew working their way through college, and even more openhandedly to children named after her.

The matriarch of her clan, Joy was outgoing and happy, and specialized in bringing people together - whether it was arranging family reunions for hundreds, organizing her high school class reunions or tracing her family history back to "the boat after the Mayflower."

She touched people everywhere with her unconditional love and her willingness to give her last dollar.

She is survived by four children, Ashley Thomas, Phoenix; Donn Scarlett, Port Elizabeth and his wife, Betty Jean, Derri Scarlett, Bismarck, and her husband, Peter Hatfield, and Dianne Scarlett, Villas and her husband, Don Guthrie; eight grandchildren; six step-grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; and four step-great-grandchildren; three sisters, Mary Jones, Millville, Florence Polise, Woodbine, and Elinda Murphy, Runnemede; and a twin brother, Jack, of Apex, N.C.; and many nieces and nephews, as well as, hundreds of friends and adopted relatives.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to St. Labre Indian School, Ashland, Mont., www.stlabre.org, or Children International, PO. Box 219055, Kansas City, MO 64121, www.children.org.

At her wishes Joy will be cremated, and her remains will be interred in Cumberland Methodist Church with her parents at a later date. (Evoy Funeral Home, North Cape May.)