Life Lessons in Music: A Tribute to the Beautifully Talented Mrs. Dintzner (1944 - 2025)
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| Mrs. Dintzner |
Later in life, as Mrs. Dintzner, she would pass along the skills she learned as a little girl in 4-H to younger folks, having been the arts and crafts instructor for the Southwick Parks and Recreation Commission's Summer Playground Program for several years.
By age 10, Mrs. Dintzner was performing piano solos. As part of a 1954 piano recital, she performed "Musetta's Waltz," from the 1896 opera La bohème, and "Desert Night." At that same recital, she performed a duet with a classmate - using one piano, they performed "Sheep May Safely Graze," composed by Johann Sebastian Bach in 1731.
In 1956, young Joyce, who attended the Bethany School of Dance in Montpelier, tap danced with her sister at Waitsfield's fifth annual minstrel show. That same year, she took the fifth place prize for horsemanship after completing a roughly three-hour trail ride event with 15 riders (her brother took first place).
As part of the Jolly Cooks 4-H Club, she appeared on a local television program on December 20, 1956, to discuss how to make Christmas corsages. (Apparently, she was a good baker too!)
As a sixth grader in 1957, she became the organist for her church. At a church gathering about a month later, she performed a special violin solo -accompanied on the piano by one of her sisters.
PHOTO
Mr. and Mrs. Dintzner with daughter Holly at Stanley Park on Mother's Day, 1978
Mrs. Dintzner graduated with honors from Waitsfield High School in 1962. Mrs. Dintzner attended the renowned Hartt School of Music in Hartford, Connecticut, before getting a degree in education at Westfield State College and joining the Sandisfield school system in 1970, teaching third and fourth grade. (Mrs. Dintzner had degrees from other colleges too.)
In February 1971, Roland C. Weeks, superintendent of the junior and senior high schools in Southwick, announced the appointment of Mrs. Dintzner to the Berkshire - Hampden Southwest School Union. She would start teaching in Southwick in the fall of 1971. (Other appointments announced included Mrs. Maureen Dupre to the Southwick High School Math Department.)
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| Dintzner w/ the Sweet Adelines (1981) |
At Southwick, Mrs. Dintzner jumped right in. She led many school concerts and other musical events. (Under the direction of Mrs. Dintzner, the Glee Club performed "Welcome, Welcome," "Fiddler on the Roof," and "The Candy Man" at the annual spring music program in 1973 for parents of students attending Consolidated School.)
Mrs. Dintzner's parents were Ralph Herbert Joslin and Elizabeth Marjorie (Murray) Joslin. (Ralph's parents spelled their name Joslyn. Her mother sometimes went by Marjorie.)
Ralph was born in Vermont, and Elizabeth was born in Michigan. They met in Florida, where they married on April 20, 1927. They moved to Vermont in 1951, where they operated the historic 160-acre Joslyn family dairy farm, known as the Round Barn, in Waitsfield from 1951 - 1982. Before that, they owned the Joslin Hotel for about 23 years in Orlando, Florida. The Joslin Hotel operated seasonally, sometimes opening as early as October or as late as December. It was known for its quality home-cooked meals at affordable prices. (The Joslins auctioned off their hotel's furniture and fixtures in 1950.)
Around the turn of the century, the Joslyn farm became a working dairy farm. It was named Round Barn Farm for the 12-sided dairy barn that Clem Joslyn had built there in 1909.
Today, the Round Barn is an inn that doubles as a wedding and event venue. (The Round Barn made the National Registry of Historic Places in 1988.)
Mrs. Dintzner retired from teaching at Southwick in 2006.
R.I.P. Mrs. Dintzner - You were one of the greats!
Joyce Fidelia (Joslin) Dintzner: June 11, 1944 - January 11, 2025
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Author's Note
Mrs. Dintzner was an amazing person. Those of us fortunate enough to have had her in school know how great she was. Gifted, smart, beautiful, talented, stylish, dedicated, and caring are only a few of the many adjectives used to describe her. We all could learn from the life of the great Mrs. Dintzner - and the world could use more people like her. May she forever R.I.P.
Edited Out/Author's Additional Research Notes
Member of the Pioneer Valley Chapter of the Sweet Adelines.
c. 1965 married Dennis E. Dintzner
In 1952, she had a tonsillectomy.
This story only highlights a few of the many charitable events and volunteer efforts of Mrs. Dintzner.
While driving down Southwick Road in Westfield, Massachusetts, on October 16, 1965, Mrs. Dintzner crashed into a car turning left onto Southwick Road from City View Road. Mrs. Dintzner and her passenger were injured and taken to Noble Hospital. (Her passenger was her older sister Virginia.)
In 1996, the mayor of Westfield, Massachusetts, submitted Mrs.
Dintzner's appointment to the Westfield Arts Council to the city
council.
PHOTO
Mrs. Dintzner was a Springfield Symphony Orchestra volunteer - shown here at an event for children in 1998.