I first knew Joy in her capacity as Secretary of the Senate in the Legislature. She was so good at that job and ran a tight ship. I was, like most of my colleagues, always impressed and always a bit intimidated. When she started showing up at Bayside to bowl it was so disorienting to see her in this new capacity, I hoped I looked like I knew what I was doing running a business and hoped she thought I was doing it right. She became a regular – she tackled bowling with the same focus and intensity she had brought to her professional life. She was such a gracious presence here, though not above some good trash talking when the game called for it. Thank you for sharing so much of your time with us here, Joy. We will always remember you.
I am going to skip lines for this week. Instead I was thinking folks could just comment with any Skittles stories they wanted to share.
We are working on a fitting tribute to Joy here at Bayside, be it a trophy case with one of her old bowling balls, a plaque, or something else, and hope to have that put together relatively soon.
Skittles and I spent many early afternoons on lanes next to each other trying to keep those 150 averages up. I admired the hell out of her because even though I am considered one of the “old” guys at the lanes she was 20 years older than me and enjoying the hell out of life and that is exactly what I wanted to be doing when I grew up! She was always so sweet to Jackson and Ella when Sneaky and I were at the lanes with our children. Our kids were born early 29 weeks and 3 days and I raise money for March of Dimes every year during the March for Babies, and out of nowhere Skittles made a very nice donation to the walk which I always appreciated. When I heard she had to stop draft league I pm’d her via facebook to which she responded on September 14 our last communication, just to tell her how much I admired and looked up to her and I did. I hit the lanes yesterday afternoon when I got the awful news to toast her memory with some Miller Lite bottles. She will be greatly missed.
Charlie maybe a memorial Skittles hat tournament on a yearly basis to raise funds towards cancer research.
Great idea, Thunder!
There’s so much I could say about Skittles, but I’ll keep it brief. After an internship and brief stint working on some House campaigns, Joy was my first real boss out of college. For those that never got to work with her or see her in action, she ran the Maine Senate like no one else could. She was stern, but she had poise, determination, and everyone there, Republican or Democrat, knew that she was the real leader in the Senate Chamber and she’s what kept it running like a well-oiled pinsetting bowling machine. Needless to say, she terrified me! But as I got to know her, she was also a very kind, loyal, caring individual, and someone that would do anything to help out a friend.
So on Boss’s Day, I’ll be raising a glass tonight to the best boss I ever had. RIP Skittles.
Last conversation with Joy:
Week 1 of draft, I thought I overheard her saying she was going to sit out the season and just watch. I knew she was in a battle, but didn’t think it was like her to quit, to not battle back. When I asked her a few minutes later if she was, in fact, planning on sitting out the season, she looked at me like I had 2 heads “Hell no, of course I’m gonna bowl”. Classic Skittles.
The last conversation I had with her reaffirmed everything I believe about her spirit, both for life and for bowling.
Great story, Hexy! Clarified and I had so much fun rolling 2v2 with (because it always felt “with”, never “against”) you and Skittles last spring, yelling “BOOBS!” every time once of a threw a strike – our own homage to Dr. Thunder.
The last time I saw Skittles was at the draft league party. She was beautiful and glowing and doing shots of Doc McGillicuddy’s at the bar, and I’m going to keep both of those memories of her in my heart.
I had forgotten about the BOOBS cheers – thanks for bringing that memory back 🙂
One of my many favorite stories about Skittles – when we were 2v2 teammates – she would buy shots for the opposing team – you know to perhaps give us an edge. She also suggested that we get a handicap – take our ages and minus the ages of our younger opponents and give us the handicap of the difference. LOL – no one ever took us up on that – but damn we tried. I will miss the secret sign for “fu*king tenpin”. I will be wearing our 2v2 team bowling shirt tonight (we she generously bought for us) and pick up those damn tenpins shots for her all night long.