Obituary of Joyce Jackman Carpenter

CARPENTER, Joyce Jackman, 80, of Glastonbury, CT passed away on January 23 at Gaylord Long-Term Acute Care Hospital in Wallingford, CT from complications resulting from a stroke. She leaves her brothers Laurence Jackman of Monroe, NC, Gregory Jackman of Milford, MA, Robert Jackman of Marshfield, MA, Arthur Jackman of Uxbridge, MA, son Jeffrey Carpenter and his wife Kristen of Mamaroneck, NY, daughter Cathy Michaud and her husband Jim of Evans, GA, and three grandchildren. Her husband of 48 years, Clayton, passed away in 2015.

She was born in Brockton, MA in 1937, daughter of the late Arthur and Margaret Jackman. She graduated from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1958 with a BS in mathematics. She joined the Connecticut General Life Insurance Company and earned Associate membership in the Society of Actuaries in 1966 after passing exams over several years. At the time there were few women actuaries. While working in Hartford, she met her future husband Clayton, also an actuary.

She grew up spending summers in a small beach cottage in Dennisport, Cape Cod with her parents and 4 brothers. The Cape remained her favorite place throughout her life, especially the Chatham area. She loved to visit Morris Island and observe the landscape changes out to Monomoy Point from year to year.

She was an excellent high school athlete, excelling in both track and basketball. She passed on her athletic interests to her children, encouraging them to pursue sports and enabling them to do so through countless hours of driving them to and from sports activities.

She kept in touch with fellow Girl Scouts from Whitinsville MA Troop 1 throughout her life. She and Clayton played bridge and ate dinner monthly for over 30 years with a group of friends with whom they also enjoyed short trips.

She was an extremely bright, well-organized, independent and self-motivated woman right up until her 80^th year.   She was an expert on the details of her finances and legal matters, as well as the many recipes she loved to make for family. She was a wonderful wife, mother, sister, nana and friend and will be very much missed.

A memorial service will be held on Monday January 29 at 11AM at St. James Episcopal Church at 2584 Main St., Glastonbury CT. Memorial donations may be made to the (non-profit) Gaylord Hospital, Care of the Development Office, PO Box 400, Wallingford CT 06492 (www.gaylord.org/donate). She received an extraordinary level of therapy and care at Gaylord the past few months.  For online condolences please visit www.mulryanfh.com.