Born: March 17, 1932 - Middletown, Connecticut, USA
Died: April 25, 2010 - Lexington, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA |
The American soprano, Joanna Starr Griscom, graduated from Connecticut College for Women, majoring in voice, in 1953.
Joanna Starr met her future husband, N. Thorne Griscom, M.D., while he was a medical student at the University of Rochester, and they married in December, 1955. They had four children, of whom three survive. When Jo became pregnant with her first child, she gave up her secretarial career to stay home with her children. She and her husband sang together, she a soprano and he a tenor, in many choral groups in the Boston area. In 1969 they became members of the Cantata Singers, performing with that group for more than twenty years until they retired from singing in the 1990's. Jo was president of the chorus for several years. When her children were all in school, she began producing live classical radio concerts for WGBH Radio. Most recently she served as clerk (secretary) of the board of directors of the Cary Memorial Library Foundation in Lexington, resigning only when she fell ill.
Joanna Starr Griscom died on April 25, 2010 of malignant melanoma, at age 78. She was an intelligent, strong-willed, capable woman who loved her family and music. She was survived by her husband, her son Daniel Griscom of Melrose, her daughter Nell Griscom of Los Gatos, California, her son Matthew Griscom of Shoreline, Washington, and seven grandchildren. |