Joyce Louise Rodriques

Joyce was born in Green Hill, St. Ann, Jamaica on August 3rd 1936 to her Father, Eleazor Cunningham and her Mother Ethline Harris Cunningham.

She attended Charlton Primary school during her childhood and volunteered at the town library in Charlton. As a teen she went to a Private Commercial school in Brown’s Town, St. Ann where she majored in Short Hand & Type Writing. After graduation, she received her first job opportunity with the first phone company established in Jamaica, The Jamaica Telephone Company. She moved from Green Hill, a quiet neighbor-friendly town of farm-to-table living, to British colonial Kingston; a city then properly representing Jamaica as one of Britain’s most valuable colonies. 1950s Kingston was hosting a country of people organizing a journey towards independence. Joyce, working as a clerk there was exposed to grander ideas of not only lifestyle, but how to strategize paths of independence.

After creating a foundation for her siblings to join her in Kingston she then set her sights on the USA. Staying connected to her goal to live abroad she was granted an opportunity to move to the USA via Cleveland, Ohio and then settle in Hartford, CT. She had quite a network of friends in Hartford and was able to secure a job at Southern New England Telephone Company.

Hartford proved to be her first true home in the USA when she was introduced to Gladstone Palmer and married him in 1961. They had one daughter and named her Judith Ann. Joyce was very family oriented. She ensured that an opportunity was available for each of her siblings, as well as other extended family members, to relocate to Hartford from Jamaica once she had settled. Her family always knew they had a place to stay with her until they were able to move independently.

Joyce achieved an above average lifestyle with travel to various destinations in and out of the U.S., Hawaii, Mexico, and purchased investment properties before retiring to Florida. At the end of a well established career in Connecticut she moved to Florida in 1989. She loved maintaining a beautiful home and enjoyed making flower arrangements as a hobby. After Gladstone passed, she continued working in healthcare and hospitality. Committed to supporting opportunities for family members whenever she could, in the mid 1990s she was able to support one more family member to move the USA, Keesha Wishart-Pittman. Joyce remarried in 2004 to Utel Rodrigues. She continued to enjoy working and traveling until 2022.

She passed on July 31, 2023 with her daughter and sister at her side. She leaves behind her daughter Judith Lattimore, Husband Utel Rodrigues, Sisters Lynnette Harrison, Gertrude Hunter, Estelle Bastiany, Dorothy Kirlew, brother Astley Cunningham, and her extended family of nieces, nephews and cousins.