Joyce J Vena

Mrs. Joyce J. Patricia Vena, 89, entered the arms of the Lord escorted by His heavenly angels on Sunday, November 17, 2024.

We respectfully request that no one arrive at the funeral home prior to the posted visitation times, so as not to intrude on the family’s private time. 

Family and friends are invited to the visitation in the Kowalski Funeral Home, 515 Roselle Street, Linden on Sunday, November 24th. from 1:00-5:00PM.  On Monday, November 25th. at 8:15AM, everyone will start to gather in the funeral home where a prayer service will begin at 8:45AM, followed by the funeral mass to be offered in St. Hedwig Roman Catholic Church in Elizabeth at 10:00AM.  The burial in the Brigadier General William C. Doyle Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Wrightstown, New Jersey will be private. 

Joyce, the daughter of the late Jennie Occhipinti Patricia and the late Joseph Patricia was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey and she resided in Linden from 1955 until 2022 when she moved to Old Bridge for a brief time, followed by Toms River.

At one period, Joyce worked part time in the factory of Nova Screw Machine Products in Linden, but Joyce’s job in this world – her role, was to help people through her hard work and charitable activities.  As a member of the Ladies Auxiliary Linden Knights of Columbus Council #2859 Joyce was a past officer holding the various chairs as she worked her way up to be their president.  Throughout the years, she ran numerous fundraisers, such as the popular Chinese Auctions which later turned into Tricky Trays and the weekend bus excursions to Reading, Pennsylvania so the ladies could shop to their hearts content.  Joyce oversaw the spaghetti dinners, the chicken& fish dinners during Lent, the communion breakfasts, the scholarship foundation, to name a few & she worked tirelessly for our brother Knights with their annual benefit dinner.  Joyce made sure we always had enough desserts to feed an army!  50/50 tickets and dark horse prizes were also in her repertoire.  Joyce was a major force when it came to selling tickets….no one could guilt trip a person better than Joyce into parting with money to purchase tickets to benefit the cause.  She was never far from her trusty sidekick, Doris Coppa.  Even their respective husbands, Andy Vena & Carmine Coppa didn’t just come along for the ride as Joyce and Doris made sure they put in a lot of muscle, cooking the gravy, the roast beef or doing anything that needed to be done.  Joyce attended every meeting, and she knew all the rules of the organization inside and out.  Her goal was to maintain the quality, integrity and focus of the Ladies Auxiliary.  Joyce was even nominated, selected and celebrated as our Lady of the Year at the Knights annual award ceremony.  It was apparent that when you mentioned the Ladies Auxiliary, Joyce was automatically synonymous with it.  Nothing seemed to hold her back from making sure the Ladies met their goals.  Monitoring and running all these activities left little time for relaxation, but when she could, travel was a highlight of Joyce’s life, whether she was visiting Las Vegas or taking to the high seas on the Alaskan cruises.

Joyce endured some devastating losses; her husband, Andrew J. Vena., Jr.  2016 and then in 2023, within a six-month period, she lost her sister, Carol Ann Peters and her brother Gabriel “Gabe” Patricia.

Joyce is survived by her four children; Andrew J. Vena III and his wife, Candice, Joseph Vena and his wife, Janice, James Vena and his wife, Sandra and her daughter, Patricia Vena Santos and her husband, Joe; her eight grandchildren, Jonathan Vena & his wife, Kirielle, Jacqueline Vena and her husband, Kosmas Torofias, Kelly Vena, Michael Vena, Samantha Vena, James G. Vena, Mathew Santos and Adriana Santos; her two great grandchildren, Wyatt Vena and Zoe Vena and Joyce’s many neighbors and friends.

There is no other way to describe Joyce other than that she was a force to be reckoned with.  Her love for her family was everything and even with her tough exterior, her face would melt into a smile and her eyes would shine so brightly when talking about any one of them.  We were all privileged to know and love Joyce, to get to work alongside her or if you were lucky, with her!   Whether she knew it or not, Joyce taught us all how to be a better person.  She certainly was “one in a million” and we will forever miss her.   

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Joyce J Vena, please visit our floral store.