Joyce Ann Fournier

LUNENBURG - Joyce Ann (Monahan) Fournier, 89, of Lunenburg, Vermont, ended her fierce battle against the ravages of age and illness and went to meet her Lord on Saturday, May 14, 2016, at Weeks Medical Center in Lancaster after a brief final illness.

Joyce was born at the old hospital on Main Street in Lancaster on April 30, 1927, daughter of Ernest and Hazel (Davis) Monahan. She was raised on the Monahan farm, overlooking Neal Pond in Lunenburg. Her fondest memories of growing up on the family farm at the edge of "North Star Country" were of tramping through the woods with her big sister Barbara, poking around the old lumber camps and enjoying the wildflowers. This bred in her a great love of being outdoors in the fresh air that she carried with her throughout life.

Joyce attended the one-room school in the Pierce District through 8

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grade, then went one year to Lancaster Academy before going out into the working world. She was employed at Gilman Paper Company in Gilman for a time during World War II, then trained as a telephone operator and worked for New England Telephone and Telegraph in Lancaster until she married.

On August 5, 1946, Joyce married Eugene Raymond Fournier of Lunenburg, and they set about making a life together and raising their three sons. In the early 1950s, they built the camp at Neal Pond, where they spent many happy times with children and extended family. In 1955, they moved into the first home they ever owned, converted from the West Neighborhood school where Gene had been a pupil. During these years, Joyce could often be found with ax or "spud" in hand, working in the woods at her husband's side.

In 1965, the family moved to the farm on Fournier Road in West Neighborhood, the place where Joyce would spend the rest of her days. Over the next 20 years, she and Gene worked impossibly hard, wresting a farm from the rocky hillside and gaining a reputation as excellent farmers. With Joyce as chief herdswoman, they built one of the finest and most awarded small dairy herds in the area. After the dairy herd was sold in 1987, she maintained the farm and raised replacement heifers as long as she was able, and could often be seen riding the tractor, tedding or raking hay.

In addition to being a tough but loving mother, Joyce was a wonderful dessert cook - a gift she had from her mother and her sister Margaret. She also loved reading, gardening, bird-watching, and Irish, Scottish, and old-time fiddle music.

She is survived by three sons: Michael and wife Rosalene, of Lunenburg; Alan and wife Jeannine, of Loganville, Wisconsin; and Gary, of Lunenburg. She is also survived by two beloved grandchildren: Jacob, of Lunenburg; and Lydia, of Kittery, Maine.

She was predeceased by her husband, Gene, in 1986; by two sisters, Margaret Jane Colby and Barbara Mary Wolfe; and by her big brother, Kenneth Monahan, whom she adored. A brother, Donald, died in infancy.

There will be no calling hours. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Thursday, May 19, at 11 am, at St. Leo's Catholic Church in Lunenburg.  Rev. Matthew Mason, pastor of the Gate of Heaven Parish, will officiate.

Donations in Joyce's memory may be made to Top of the Common Committee, PO Box 195, Lunenburg, VT 05906; or to Riverside Rescue, 236 Riverside Ave., Lunenburg, VT 05906.