Joan Boyer

Joan Boyer passed away peacefully early in the morning on February 13, 2011 in the Hospice Unit of Norwalk Hospital. She was 78 years old.

Joan was born on June 9, 1932 in Norwalk, of the late Charles & Grace Vadas. After graduating Norwalk High School she pursued a career as a Psychiatric Nurse at Silver Hill Hospital in New Canaan, CT. Joan's passions included opera, knitting and antiques.

However, her biggest passion was reading books of all kinds. She had a huge library of books on many subjects including cooking, murder mysteries, and autobiographies. In fact, I can''t ever remember a time when mom wasn''t reading a book. I will always remember the trips to “The Remarkable Book Store” in Westport. Prior to the onset of chain bookstores, this was her favorite place, complete with every book you could possibly want and a cat that slept on the bookshelves to boot.

Joan was also a huge NY Giants & Knicks fan. I will always have fond memories of the many games we watched together. Joan was a great cook, making many wonderful dinners & desserts, always from scratch using healthy ingredients. She also loved cats, taking care of several who lived in excess of 18 years.

Joan is survived by her only son & daughter-in-law, Matthew & Cheryl Boyer of Natick, MA, and by Elaine Vadas of Newark, DE, wife of the late Charles Vadas, Jr. In addition, she is survived by three wonderful lifelong friends: Elin Pye of Santa Barbara, CA, Midge Clarke of Easton, CT & Courtney Austin of Norwalk, CT. Elin worked with Joan at Silver Hill before relocating to CA but remained in contact with her through the years. Midge Clarke knew Joan in excess of 40 years & was my mother's best friend, giving new definition to the meaning of the word “friendship”.

Lastly, Courtney Austin was another close friend to Joan, dating back to their days in Norwalk High School. To Courtney I owe an incredible debt of gratitude which can never truly be repaid. Mom was very ill the last few years of her life, battling chronic conditions she had been dealing with over 10 years. Courtney was kind enough to allow mom to live with her. I will always be grateful for the love & kindness Courtney gave my mother in her last years. I am so grateful my mother was lucky enough to be blessed with such great friendships.

As mom raised me as a single mother, life wasn''t always easy for her. I now appreciate & understand the sacrifices she made for me. She always dreamed I would one day go to college, and was instrumental in making sure that happened. For that & too many other things I will always be grateful.

Norwalk''s Hoyt-Cognetta Funeral Home & Crematory, 5 East Wall Street was honored to assist the Boyer family with the arrangements.