Obit: Smith, Joy Ann (1960 – 2015)

Contact: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Smith, Yamamto, Stafford, Danielson, Goeke, Grum, Berry, Czaplicki, Laue, Patterson, Warren, Rickerd, Kelly

----Source: Tribune/Record/Gleaner (Abbotsford, Wis.) 14 Oct 2015

Smith, Joy Ann (15 JUN 1960 – 18 SEP 2015)

Joy Ann Smith, 55, Fitchburg, completed this life’s journey on Friday, Sept. 18, 2015, at Agrace Hospice Care in Fitchburg, after battling gastric cancer. A celebration of her life will be held from 1-4 p.m., on Saturday, Nov. 7, at Ten Pin Alley, 6285 Nesbitt Road, Fitchburg.

Joy was born on June 15, 1960, in Iwakuni, Japan, to Takumi and Ichiko Yamamto. Joy (Sachiko Yamamoto) was adopted on March 4, 1963, by John and Lillian Smith in Japan. She became a U.S. citizen in 1967 while living in Kodiac, Alaska. Joy graduated from Waukegan West High School in 1978 and received an associate degree in computer operations from Madison Area Technical College in 1981. She worked for Dane County Information Management for 30 years and retired in June 2015. Joy loved to shop, travel and gamble, but her true passions in life were music, especially attending rock concerts, and food. She was very particular about her food and dreamed of being a food critic so she could express her desire about it publicly. She truly cherished the time spent with friends. Joy will be remembered as having a loving, generous spirit that touched, changed, and inspired everyone she met. Her sweet smile lit up a room. She was the definition of what having a “heart of gold” is considered to be. Joy had her own unpredictable sense of humor. She was feisty, organized, and usually never wrong. Her simple kindness will be dearly missed by the many lives she affected.

Survivors include her brother, William (Carol) Stafford, Somers; a nephew, Kevin (Laura) Stafford, Kenosha, and their daughter, Kilah, and children; a niece, Sara Danielson, Kenosha, and her children, Raquel, Shaw and Riley; an aunt, Phyllis Goeke, Greenwood; an uncle, Richard Grum, Stoughton; cousins Kathy Berry and family, Waukegan, Ill.; her boyfriend, Jim Czaplicki and family; her dear special friends, Lisa Laue, Angie Patterson, Sally Warren, Gina Rickerd and Judi Kelly; and countless close friends.

She was preceded in death by her adoptive parents and an uncle, Harvey Goeke.

Memorials may be made to Joy’s favorite charities: American Red Cross, 2nd Harvest Food Bank, the American Cancer Society, and Agrace Hospice Care.

Online condolences may be made at www.gundersonfh.com.