Joyce Tomlinson

Joyce Margaret (Hopkins) Tomlinson, 93, of Cummaquid passed away on December 22, 2024 at her home with family and friends by her side. She was born in Middleboro, Massachusetts to the late Howard Alden and Mildred (Maxim) Hopkins.

She graduated from Memorial High School in Middleboro, and completed her bachelors of arts degree in social work and education at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in 1953. A master’s degree in education and post-masters work would follow.

Joyce was a public elementary school teacher for 47 years, the majority of which were spent at the Washington School in Edison, New Jersey where hangs a plaque dedicating the school’s library to Mrs. Tomlinson, and honoring her love, commitment, and service to the community. Upon retirement, and a subsequent move to Cape Cod, she volunteered for an additional 15 years of service to students at the Barnstable-West Barnstable Elementary and Ezra Baker Elementary schools.

Joyce Tomlinson understood and appreciated the value and power of education to transform lives, something to which she was committed right up until her time of passing. Her work in this field touched the lives of thousands of children and families.

She was passionate about teaching, traveling with family, animal welfare, playing pitch, swimming in the ocean, and of course her special group of breakfast friends with whom she would frequently gather for coffee and conversation at Jack’s Outback.

In 2002, she moved to Cummaquid with Albert Tomlinson, her loving husband of 71 years.

Joyce is survived by her daughter, Carol Mattera, and husband Christopher Mattera, her grandson Joshua Mattera, her niece Debbie Gray and husband Albert Gray, as well as grand nieces and nephews.

Special thanks to Joyce’s good friend and health aide Kerstin Bell.

Visitation will be on Saturday, January 4 at 1 PM, followed at 2PM by a service at Doane Beal and Ames, 729 Route 134, South Dennis.

Relatives and friends are urged to contribute a brief (or not so brief) anecdote or memory of Joyce on the Doane Beal and Ames website, as these wonderful stories will be reprinted directly into a memory book celebrating Joyce’s life.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals or the American Cancer Society.