Mrs. Joy M. Floyd

Let us remember with thanksgiving the life and ministry of Joy Marie Floyd, 88, of Bloomfield CT, who died at Hartford Hospital surrounded by her family on Monday, March 22, 2021.

Joy was the widow of Rev. Roger W. Floyd, a member of the New York Conference from 1960 until his death in 2013. Rev. Floyd pastored local churches in New Haven, CT and Waterbury, CT before serving with the Inner City Ministry of the Waterbury Council of Churches, as executive director of the Council of Churches of Greater Bridgeport, and as executive director of Capitol Region Conference of Churches in Hartford. He retired in 2000, and in 2007 he and Joy moved to Seabury Life Care Community in Bloomfield, CT.

Joy was born in rural North Carolina. She went to Rock Springs High School in Denver, NC, received a bachelor’s degree from Greensboro College, and did three years of missionary work in Brazil, teaching English, art and religion. She married Roger Floyd in 1956.

Joy obtained her Master in Library Science and worked at Fairfield University, University of Bridgeport, the Bridgeport Public Library, Monroe Public Library as director, and at the Connecticut State Library in Hartford. In the days before the Internet, and in the early days of the World Wide Web, reference librarians were a lifeline to information for inquiring minds, and Joy loved serving the community in this way.

Joy had a lifelong love of art and creativity. In Waterbury she started a neighborhood art center and worked as an art resource teacher. After receiving a master’s degree in art from Southern Connecticut State University, she broadened her own creative endeavors, particularly in the use of collage and found materials. She made evocative collage pieces large and small, many of them custom framed by Roger, and treasured by family, friends and others. In her long career as an artist, she participated in numerous group exhibitions, and had many one-person shows.

Joy and her husband had a lifelong commitment to issues related to peace and justice, and were actively involved in the early Civil Rights movement and the effort to stop the war in Vietnam. Their advocacy and activism encompassed work on urban poverty and racism, always guided by what they saw as Christ’s admonition to be agents of peace, and to care for the poor and underserved.

Hers was a life that was rich and active, genuinely loving and constantly creative. She is survived by her son, David; her daughters, Charlene and Melinda; her daughter-in-law, Marjory Stevens;  her son-in-law, Rev. K Karpen; her grandchildren, Jessie Floyd, Harold Karpen, and Alexander, Rosalinda and Claire Fortier; and her great grandchildren, Mateo, Julian, and Indigo. She is also survived by her sister, Barbara King, and her brother-in-law, Jim Sain.

The family requests that donations in her memory be made to either the Hartford Catholic Worker (checks can be sent to HCW 26 Clark St., Hartford, CT 06120) or the Art Connection Studio. At this time there is no funeral information. Online condolences may be made at Sheehan Hilborn Breen Funeral Home.