Joyce M. Baclawski

Joyce Marilyn Baclawski, (née Rosenberger), a 30-year resident of Amherst, New Hampshire, was born June 30, 1928 in Saint Cloud, Minnesota and died peacefully on August 24, 2017 at the age of 89. Born in Saint Cloud, Minnesota to Florian Rosenberger and Marvis German Rosenberger, Joyce was a talented tap dancer and beauty queen, who at age 15 danced with the USO to entertain 75,000 US troops during the Second World War. She was an outdoorswoman and a good shot with a rifle. During college she met Joseph Edward Baclawski, a student at Brown University, as they were both working as camp counselors near Bear Mountain, New York. They married in 1951 and Joyce became a devoted wife, then mother to James, and Joan, while making time for an intense interest in art, as well as music, tennis, and foreign travel. She greatly enjoyed her grandchildren, Diana, John and James Baclawski, and Steven and Maxwell Fazekas, spending summers with them at Martha’s Vineyard for decades and traveling to see them for the holidays. She leaves behind as well her daughter-in-law, Rebecca, granddaughter in law, Brittany, grandson in law Edward Turowski, and three great grandchildren: Jack, Juliette and Thomas Turowski. Joyce had an interesting family background. She was descended from 7 people who came over on the Mayflower, including Stephen Hopkins, a signatory of the Mayflower Compact. Her grandmother, Florence Elms, lived with her in childhood and told Joyce that her mother (Florence’s mother) had been a full-blooded Cherokee. On her father’s side, her grandfather, Balthasar Rosenberger, an emigrant from Bavaria, was one of the earliest settlers of St. Cloud. His pioneer cabin still stands at the Stearns History Museum. Funeral services will be held for Joyce and Joseph Baclawski together, at 11 AM Saturday, May 18, 2019 at Meadow View Cemetery, Amherst, New Hampshire.