TOWNSEND-
Joellyn (McCann) Nevins, of Townsend, passed away surrounded by her
family on March 6, 2022 at UMass Hospital in Worcester.
Joellyn
was born in Lowell, Massachusetts on August 6, 1944. She grew up a
military brat and lived in France for a while, as well as Virginia,
Pennsylvania, and Cape Cod. She attended college at East Stroudsburg
College in Pennsylvania, where she met Thomas Nevins on a blind date.
Tom proposed on Valentine’s Day 1967, and they were married on July 27,
1968. They lived in Hightstown, NJ, where Joellyn was a teacher in a
geodesic dome open space school in a new area of that town. They
briefly lived in Orchard Park, New York before moving to Townsend in
1973, where they raised their family.Joellyn was a reading specialist
and elementary teacher at Russell Street School and Shaker Lane School
in Littleton from 1974 to 2006, when she retired from teaching, though
she still had teacher dreams from time to time and never really stopped
thinking about teaching, passing on her love of reading to her
grandkids.An avid reader, bird watcher, Red Sox and Patriots fan,
Joellyn also loved to garden and to sit at one of the many fire pits
she and Tom had in their backyard, listening to their music programs
while enjoying a martini.Joellyn loved camping, geocaching, and
throwing away stuff without Tom knowing. She and Tom enjoyed going out
to lunch, especially in Boston, and attending their grandkids’ sporting
events. Joellyn, the quintessential Mom and Nana, was happiest when
spending time with her family, teaching her kids and grandkids that
“morning will come too early,” (as it always does), the importance of
thank you notes, and of celebrating holidays with special napkins and
decorations.She was the kindest person we all knew, generous and
thoughtful. She loved to wish people happy birthday and praise other
people’s activities on Facebook, even though she didn’t really know how
Facebook worked.Joellyn is survived by her husband of 53 years, Thomas
Nevins; her children, Christopher and Jes Nevins of Leominster, Patrick
Nevins and Stephanie Frechette of Clinton, and Kathleen Nevins LaClair
and Russell Bonilla of Concord, NH; and her three grandchildren, Conner
Nevins and Parker and Avery LaClair.Her funeral Mass will be celebrated
on Wednesday, March 16, at 10 AM in St. John the Evangelist Church, 1
School St., Townsend. Calling hours will be held from 4 to 7PM on
Tuesday, March 15, in the T.J. Anderson & Son Funeral Home, 250
Main St., (Rte 119) Townsend Center. For directions or for online
condolences, please visit
www.andersonfuneral.com.