Joyce was born in Bronx, NY on December 5, 1955 to the late Frank and Theresa (Mancuso) Luongo.
Survivors include her husband of 44 years, Steve, and their son, Kevin, of Danbury. Joyce is also survived by her brother Frank of Florida, sisters Diane Luongo of Danbury, Sue Ferri (Steve) of Yorktown Heights, NY, and Marie Roberts (Jim) of Wyoming; her brothers-in-law, Michael and Patrick of Danbury; James of Brookfield; John of Bethel; and her sister-in-law, Kathleen Flanagan-Cyr (Edward) of Sandy Hook, along with many nieces and nephews whom Joyce adored.
Besides her parents, Joyce was predeceased by her daughter Kerry, her sister-in-law Nancy, and her brother-in-law Peter.
Joyce grew up in Westchester County, NY and was active in sports and music. After high school, she attended Western Connecticut State College (now University) where she majored in music education while playing field hockey, basketball and softball. A member of the class of 1978, (as was her future husband Steve) she started a long and fruitful career as a music teacher.
After one year teaching at a middle school in North Branford, Joyce was hired to teach choir at East Ridge Middle School in Ridgefield. Following a successful time there, she moved to Ridgefield High School where she taught choir, sometimes orchestra, music theory, and whatever else needed to be taught for the next few decades. She would later serve as department head for music and the arts.
Her choirs always blended beautifully and exhibited Joyce’s genuine love of fine choral music in all its forms. They performed at competitions up and down the Eastern Seaboard, and over the years her choirs’ travels included Canada, Ireland, England, Germany, Austria and Italy where they performed in festivals, churches and concert halls. Her groups were also regularly invited to Carnegie Hall to perform choral works, often at the composer’s request.
Outside the classroom, Joyce’s greatest passion was directing high school musical productions. For thirty years, she directed, sometimes also produced, and oversaw all aspects of the productions at Ridgefield HS. Her ability to cast students in key roles - even when they did not think that they could perform them – was intuitive and flawless. The musicals had a large and loyal following and won numerous awards over the decades. She was blessed with a loyal and talented production team that included the musical director, choreographers, producers, set builders, and sound and lighting professionals. Joyce took great, if too modest, pride in the professional quality of the productions. Joyce, or “Flan” as her students called her, was never happier than when her students got the well-deserved accolades they had earned by their performances. She saw talents in her students that they did not see in themselves.
Following 36 years of teaching, Joyce retired to play golf – often and well – and pursued her passion for choral music by creating an adult a cappella group called Noteworthy. For the last several years Noteworthy has rehearsed and given several concerts a year at Assumption Greek Orthodox Church in Danbury. Joyce was proudest of having stimulated a passion for singing, music and musical theater in countless students and adults and helping them unlock and nurture talents they did not know they had.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10:30am on Thursday, August 22, 2024 at St. Peter Church, 57 Main St., Danbury, CT. Burial will follow in St. Peter Cemetery, Danbury, CT.
Friends will be received from 4:00pm - 8:00pm on Wednesday, August 21, 2024 at the Green Funeral Home, 57 Main St., Danbury, CT.
In lieu of flowers, contributions In Joyce’s memory may be made to Healing the Children Northeast, Inc., Suite 20, Mailbox 11, 219 Kent Rd., New Milford, CT 06776 or to Regional Hospice and Homecare of Western CT, 30 Milestone Road, Danbury, CT 06810.
