Joya Verde
Joya Broga Verde, born Joya Maude Greene, left this world on Friday, Aug. 29, 2014. Born December 10th, 1932 to Vincent Greene & Mae Ellen Caverno in Englewood, NJ, this child of the Great Depression, along with her twin Joanne and younger sister, Karen, gorged themselves on music, dance, Shakespeare, the movies and ice cream. After high school, she met and married Warren R. Frye, with whom she had 6 children: Thomas, David, Charles, Michael, Cecelia & Gwynneth.
Joya’s maternal love was not limited to her family. She taught her children the intrinsic worth of every person and was a staunch advocate for civil rights. She became a vegetarian before it was cool, and always encouraged her children to express themselves creatively. She became a licensed massage therapist, studied various healing traditions, and learned to speak a bit of the Welsh language, as well.
Joya and her loving and supportive partner for over 30 years, Virginia Dare, lived on Woods Road in Palisades for many years and spent their last years on Block Island, where Joya wrote poetry, essays and screenplays. In the last years of Joya’s life, Parkinson’s had made writing virtually impossible, but she poured herself into the study of Kabbalah. She passed away surrounded by her sisters, her loving and united family, and an amazing legion of people whose lives she left an indelible mark on.
edited from a piece by David Frye