Joyce Albrecht: A Lifetime of Service In Teaching and Volunteering
By SAUL RESNICK
Special to The Sun
This is another in the series The Sun is running about people who make significant contributions to the Haddonfield community.
Joyce Albrecht spent more than four decades as a teacher and the past decade as a retiree — more active than ever while embracing a variety of volunteer and educational goals.
Joyce, a vice president and director of the Haddonfield Lions Club, readily admits that retirement has brought on a whole new sense of fulfillment to her life.
“Don’t be afraid to retire,” Joyce said with a wisdom achieved through experience. “There is much to do and many new people to meet and the sense of accomplishment is just as great as during the working years.”
Joyce’s reason in recent years for joining the Lions Club stems from a personal experience she had as a teacher when a colleague at Haddon Heights High School asked her to apply for a seat on the Board of Directors for the Bestwork Industries for the Blind.
“Jim Howe with our music department had to retire because he was losing his sight to macular degeneration,” Joyce said. “Bestwork is a non-profit dedicated to improving the quality of life for the blind and visually impaired by providing employment and training in a supportive environment. We provide uniforms which our employees sew under contracts for the military services, and meet their exacting requirements.”
Upon retirement from her teaching career, Joyce pursued membership with the Lions Club, which is noteworthy for its many charitable endeavors involving the blind and the community.
“It was a natural transition for me, and I’ve given time and effort with the club and got much more in return in knowing how much we achieve, and my role in it,” Joyce said.
Joyce’s community efforts over the years include her service on the Magnolia Board of Education and the Magnolia Planning Board as well as her service on the Professional Teaching Standard Board at the New Jersey Department of Education and on a task force at the NJ School Boards Association.
Joyce is also a member of the National Education Association (NEA) and the New Jersey NEA. She is a member of the Delta Kappa Gamma, a professional honor society of women educators. Top that off with her achievement as a New Jersey Master Gardener and a Barclay Farmstead Living History guide, and Joyce’s life leaves little time for sleep.
“But I enjoy it all, and feel fulfilled with all of my activities,” Joyce said with enthusiasm.
Joyce, the daughter of William J. and Gertrude Shepherd, graduated from Haddonfield Memorial High School and Glassboro State College.
“I taught English and history for more than four decades at Haddon Heights High School and served as president of the Haddon Heights Education Association for many years,” Joyce said.
On her first day of retirement, prodded by a friend to discover what her new life would bring, she volunteered at the Camden County Historical Society.
“I love running into the many students I taught over those 40 plus years,” Joyce said. “They always have fond memories of their years in the ‘Heights family,’ which is what we considered it to be. We continue to look out for one another”
She said former students frequently remember something she did or said, which she’ll have forgotten. Joyce said that shows what influence teachers have on their students.
“They are in all walks of life now and they make me proud to have had some influence on them,” Joyce said.
That’s Joyce — a lifetime of helping others, and they remember.
If you are interested in joining the Haddonfield Lions Club contact Bob Stokes, president, at (856) 429–6497 or e-mail him at robert.s.stokes@hotmail.com for further information.
