Joyce M. (Jackson) Crossland

Joyce Marie Jackson Crossland departed this life on October 4, 2020 at Capital Health Regional Medical Center in Trenton, NJ at the age of 79.

She was a resident of Lawrence Township at the time of her passing. Joyce was born in Princeton n, NJ on December 18, 1940. She was the younger of two daughters born to the late Leonard and Elaine Jackson, "Joy", family called her, spent her childhood in Princeton where she attended the Witherspoon Street School for Colored Children until the Princeton Public schools were integrated in 1948, As a teen, she moved with her parents to Lawrence Township, which at the time did not have a high school, and so she attended and graduated from Trenton High School in 1958. Still, she always considered her beloved "old Princeton" home.

Soon after graduation, Joyce married the  late Lefone “Cap" Crossland, Jr., and together they lived in Trenton and had two children, Joyce was a work• ing mother, starting her career in the typing pool at Educational Testing Service and later joining the administrative staff of the Afro-American Studies Program at Princeton University. While at Princeton, Joyce broadened her horizons and deepened her interests in public policy, arts, and culture. It was largely because of a conversation with a professor whom she worked for tf\e.re that she decided to pursue a college degree. In the early 1970s she started taking classes at Rider College (now University). For the next decade she would work multiple jobs, often full time, Offline attending Rider. In 1981, she graduated with a B.S. in Commerce and Industrial Relations, during her time as a student, Joyce began working for the State of New Jersey. When her working years ended, she was a budget analyst for the Office of Management and Budget.

Joyce somehow also found time in those years to support her children's activities, volunteer at the library, see plays, browse Rea markets and play Friday night  bingo and  Pokeno with  her aunts and  cousins   A lifelong Christian who grew up attending Mt. Pisgah A.M.E. Church i:n Princeton, she got to  church whenever she didn't have to  work.    Various medical issues arose over the years and greatly curtailed her social life. When her health allowed, she kept busy at home cooking, gardening, and reading.

Predeceased by her son Darryl T. Crossland, and nephews Thomas Harrison, Jr. and Donald Harrison, Joyce leaves to cherish her memory a daughter Dawn Crossland Sumners (Martin); a grandson Seneca Sumners; a sister Elaine Harrison; a niece Terri Sanderlin; several cousins and family friends. 

Services will be 11-12pm Monday, October 19, 2020 at the Hughes Funeral Home, 324 Bellevue Ave., Trenton, NJ, 08618.  Interment will be at Princeton Cemetery, Princeton, NJ.  

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