Joye Ann McCaffrey Marostica

Joye Ann McCaffrey Marostica

     Joye was born January 28, 1931 in Lovell, Wyoming to George Dewey McCaffrey and Zela Asay McCaffrey. She and her younger sister Marilyn enjoyed growing up in Lovell with many cousins, aunts, uncles and their grandparents, Delilah and Adelbert Asay, who delighted them as children with pioneer stories of their ancestors.

She contracted polio in her early teens but recovered, helping her dad by working at Lovell Drug, his Rexall Pharmacy. In her senior year at Lovell High School, she was Class President, Cheerleader, and Homecoming Queen. Her student council at LHS put the original “L” on Sheep Mountain east of town and started the annual Homecoming Celebration. She loved playing pool with her dad, learning the game when visiting his extended family in Dodge City, Kansas.

Joye graduated from the University of Wyoming in 1952 with a degree in Elementary Education, taking many classes in speech therapy. While at Laramie she joined the Chi Omega Sorority and was inducted into Spurs, the sophomore honorary. She married fellow UW student Larry Marostica before he was called to serve in Korea with the U.S. Army. He was the love of her life and passed away in 2008.

They began their family in Evanston, Wyoming with the birth of son Tony, followed by sons Marty and Matt and daughter Lisa. Soon after relocating to Collinsville, Connecticut in 1963, youngest son Dan was born. Although living far from their Western roots, they enjoyed raising their children in New England with all its beauty and history. As a family they delivered the Hartford Courant Newspaper for 14 years.

Joye taught preschool for many years during which time she created the “Joy of Manners Etiquette Class” for children (with the Golden Rule as its central theme) which was recognized by the Connecticut media. She and Larry were active in local community organizations and their children excelled in academics and sports making many life-long friends.

Joye and Larry chose to live their later years in Southern Colorado’s Greenhorn Valley near their son Tony and his family, Joye’s sister Marilyn Hunter, and Larry’s many Colorado relatives. She and Larry traveled the world on vacations and cruises, especially enjoying visits with Larry’s Italian relatives in both Northern Italy and Argentina. She loved his huge and loving Italian family whose ancestors immigrated to America through Ellis Island in the early 1900’s. She was particularly fond of his seven sisters who made sure she was welcomed as a member of their close family. For years she and Larry accompanied her Mother Zela to Sun City West in Arizona for the winter, enjoying the many activities provided for seniors there.

She loved her Latter Day Saint faith and served in many Church callings over the years, including Hartford Connecticut Stake Relief Society President. Upon retirement, she and her husband served Church missions in Independence, Missouri and Italy. She was invited to travel back to Connecticut in 2016 where she attended and sat in the Celestial Room during the dedication of the Hartford, Connecticut Temple.

During retirement, Joye served as a docent in Pueblo’s Sangre de Cristo Children’s Museum and taught her manners class in area churches and schools. Among other local activities, she was instrumental in organizing the first performance of Rye’s “Christmas in the Valley,” started the Greenhorn Valley Book Club, wrote a book about her grandmother titled “Till We Meet Again,” and oversaw the digitization of her grandparents 60-year journal for the benefit of the entire Asay family.

Joye loved her family dearly, loved lighthouses, loved to read, and loved to share family stories with her nearly 70 grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.