WESTFIELD – Remembering Joyce E. Platt – “Keep a song in your heart “passed away peacefully on October 28th, 2024, while in the loving care of the staff at Westfield Gardens. She now begins the next chapter of her journey to reunite with her husband, Bruce, her brother, Roland, and all those who have gone before her.
Joyce was born in Springfield, MA on July 23rd, 1926 to John and Miriam Marcoulier. Joyce was from a musical family, her father was an accomplished musician playing the E-flat saxophone as well as mandolin, guitar and violin. Joyce’s first public appearance was in 1934, when her father asked her to fill in for an ill pianist in his band. She accompanied her father as he played the violin at a square dance party at the Granville Town Hall. Joyce graduated from Springfield Technical High School and the Springfield Conservatory of Music in 1944. She married William Bruce Platt on November 11th, 1945. Bruce was a combat veteran of WW2 who, after discharge, graduated from Bowdoin Agricultural School in New York.
She was a confident and energetic woman of many talents, but her main focus was always on her family followed by her music. She volunteered countless hours to many organizations, such as Russell Council on Aging, Russell Community Church, Westfield Rotary, Westfield Council on Aging, Hilltown Heart Fund chairman, Noble Hospital Auxiliary (of which she was one of the founding members). For over 25 years, she was a director of the Western Chapter of the Massachusetts Heart Association. Joyce taught music at Gateway Regional High School in Huntington, MA, and served for many years on the Board of the Hampden County Improvement League. In 2018, she was one of those honored at the Fifteenth Annual Unsung Heroines of Massachusetts at the State House in Boston.
In 1954, she began serving as the organist for the annual Blandford Fair and continued until her retirement in 2014. She shared her musical attributes and has taught countless aspiring musicians the keyboard through her many years as a teacher at the Sounds of Music in West Springfield and many more privately. She was also a member of the Maple Run Performers clogging dance troupe.
Joyce was a woman of timeless elegance with a touch of class that made her stand out in every crowd. Everyone who knew her can today vividly recall her flare for fashion, jewelry from head to toe, and of course, the stiletto-heeled shoes. She was a woman with boundless energy, with a sharp sense of humor, and deep character. She was, and continues to be, an inspiration to all who knew her. Her greatest attributes were surely her love of life and her dynamic personality.
Joyce leaves behind her son, Mark, and daughter-in-law Betty, her sister, Bonnie Ann Callahan, two granddaughters, Heather Kober and husband Kris, and Tiffany Bixby and her husband, James, and two step-grandsons, Jonathan Hatch and Nicholas Hatch and his wife, Adrienne, twelve great-grandchildren, and one great nephew. She also leaves several nieces and nephews, two of whom she had a special fondness for…David Proctor, wife Colleen, and Miriam “Missy,” Tedesco, husband Gino.
Funeral services will be private. Southwick Forastiere Funeral & Cremation, 624 College Highway, Southwick is entrusted with funeral arrangements.
Instead of flowers, donations can be made to Gateway Regional School Music Program-In honor of Joyce E. Platt, Huntington, MA 01050. www.forastiere.com
