Joyce Bellis

Joyce Bellis (nee Crompton) died peacefully on February 26, 2025 at Gilchrist Hospice in Columbia, Maryland, at the age of 86.

She was born on July 12, 1938, at Holy Name Hospital in Teaneck, NJ, to Howard and Florence Crompton, and was a longtime resident of Tenafly, NJ. Joyce lived in the house her parents bought when she was seven years old until several months before her death when she relocated to Maryland.

She graduated from St. Cecilia High School in Englewood and held Bachelor’s degrees in Education from Fairleigh Dickinson University and Accounting from Dominican College.

After graduating from Fairleigh Dickinson, Joyce taught math at Wood-Ridge High School. She left her teaching career to embrace full-time motherhood and was an active volunteer at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel School.

Once her children were teens, Joyce worked in accounting at Simon & Schuster, and later Paramount, for 28 years. In her free time, she volunteered at the Office of Concern Food Pantry at St. Cecilia, and enjoyed caring for the family dogs, traveling, jigsaw puzzles, researching her ancestry, and all things Disney.

She is survived by her daughter Malinda Hughes, and her husband, Jim, of Ellicott City, MD; and sons John Bellis and his wife, Vicky, of Hackensack, NJ, and Stephen Bellis of Eutawville, SC. Joyce also had four granddaughters who were the light of her life: Caroline and Andrea Hughes, and Kristi and Catherine Bellis.

A celebration of Joyce’s life is scheduled for Saturday, March 15 at 10:30 a.m. at the Mt. Carmel Cemetery Chapel in Tenafly, NJ. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Office of Concern Food Pantry at St. Cecilia at 55 W. Demarest Ave, Englewood, NJ 07631. https://www.officeofconcern.com/

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