Beaudesert and the world will never be the same again after beloved icon Joy Drescher passed away on 28 November.
The larger-than-life local who always spoke it like it was threw her support behind community groups.
She endeared herself to everyone she met through her uninhibited laughter and zest for life.
She was in public office across three decades and made a lasting difference as the first and only female Mayor Beaudesert ever had.
Joy, who had been battling breast cancer for two years, was active in Beaudesert right up until her very last day, from speaking at an anti-mandate forum in Jubilee Park to having dinner at her favourite Chinese restaurant.
The Beaudesert Bulletin shares these words with permission from one of Joy’s daughters, Carmel Geromoschos-Sheil:
In loving memory
Anyone who knew my mum, or had heard her laugh, read her column, seen one of her hats … knew she was larger than life.
She was eccentric, which kind of drove me crazy as a child and as an adult, but she was one of a kind, she lived her life, and she longed to be old enough to tell the nay sayers where they could stick their ideas…
We were lucky enough to spend 6 months with her, Granny Joy learnt how to play Nintendo, and other things a demanding 6-year-old needed her to know.
I told Sterling our job was to look after Granny Joy and Grampy Doug. As we packed our bags to fly home to Singapore, he told me, but she’s still sick, how can we leave?
Oh my, I thought we’d have years more to come visit, talk, phone calls at all hours … except early in the morning.
Well… I guess she won her battle … no more chemotherapy for her … no more blood tests … yesterday (28 November 2021) at 77 she came second in Australia in a speech contest, she went to a political rally, she had dinner at the Chinese Restaurant … but sadly …
She has laughed her last laugh, breathed her last breath … her stories (or stories about her), will be long remembered.
Her name was Joy, and it’s how she lived her life … send some Joy our way … we surely will need it to fill the enormous void left in our universe.
