It is with deep sadness that the Labor Heritage Foundation notes the passing of Joyce Flynn, a former Board member and fundraiser extraordinaire.
Mary Joyce Flynn (Joyce) was born on June 9, 1940, in St. Louis, Missouri. Joyce was born into a union family — her father was a President of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers Local 1, Missouri — and she remained a warrior for working people all her life. After graduating from St. Francis Xavier High School, Joyce and John were married and started a family. Years later, Joyce became an Alderman in Ellisville, Missouri, an assistant to former Governor Teasdale of Missouri, and worked as an organizer for the United Food and Commercial Workers. In 1978, Joyce helped lead the successful fight against so-called “right to work” in Missouri. In 1982, Joyce came to Washington, DC with her husband John, who soon would lead the Bricklayers International Union for a number of years. Joyce remained very active in the labor movement and the Democratic party and held leadership roles in a number of area civic organizations, including the DC Friends of Ireland, the Washington, DC St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee, and the Washington-Ireland program. She was a zealous and tireless champion of the Labor Heritage Foundation, an organization that, like the Bricklayers Union, was very dear to her heart.
Joyce was preceded in death by son, Matthew, and is survived by her husband, John; son, Johnny, and daughter, Margie; and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.