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05/23/2018 08:30 AMWhen Mayor Joe Maturo. Jr., took office in 1998, he was looking for a secretary. Joyce Hollenbeck had recently left a job and one of her friends suggested she apply.
“She was a friend of the mayor’s and knew he was looking for a secretary,” says Joyce. “She said I’d be wonderful because I had the right personality and skills, so she faxed my résumé over.”
The next day, Joyce was called in for an interview and was offered the job. She started in May 1998 and has worked there for all of Maturo’s time in office over the last two decades. From 2007 to 2011 when Maturo was not in office, Joyce worked as a secretary for several lawyers in New Haven.
“The time has gone by very fast. Every day is so busy, so it does go by quickly,” says Joyce. “After the first 10 years, I thought it was hard to believe how much time’s gone by, but now it’s been seven years since we’ve been back.”
Joyce’s favorite thing about her job is that every day is different. In addition to working on the mayor’s schedule and communicating with the Board of Education and other town entities, as well as secretarial duties, Joyce helps people who come into the mayor’s office with everything including parking passes, getting recycling bins, fanswering citizens’ questions about housing for elderly parents, and how to get work done on their homes if they’re not able to.
“Some days lots of people walk in with problems they need help solving and other days, it’s quiet,” says Joyce. “You never know what you’re going to walk into on any given day. It could be crazy all day long or quiet. I love the diversity.”
Another large piece of Joyce’s job is helping with various events and projects throughout the year. She is currently in the midst of collecting applications for the summer work program that employs East Haven youth for four weeks in the summer.
The Town of East Haven holds many other events throughout the year in which Joyce has a hand as well, such as the fireworks, the Fall Festival, and a Memorial Day celebration, but two of her favorite events are Flag Day and the Senior Picnic.
“When Frank [Gentilesco] was here, we always worked on putting Flag Day together and having veterans, boy scouts, and girl scouts involved in a ceremony that brings people to the green,” says Joyce, who is an East Haven High School graduate. “That’s always been a pride and joy.”
The Senior Picnic is Joyce’s other favorite event. She helps to work on the event with many town departments, businesses, and volunteers in order to honor the town’s seniors. There is a picnic, raffles, and entertainment, and all of town departments are involved, from fire to police to public works.
“We put together Senior Day with the help of so many people and we’re very lucky to have such generous businesses in town that sponsor and donate to the event,” says Joyce. “The Police Department directs traffic, the Fire Department is on the green and does a great job patrolling, and if it weren’t for public works, I wouldn’t be able to do this. They do a phenomenal job making the day run smoothly.”
While Joyce loves her job, she also is very active outside of work. She and her husband of 40 years, Kurt, live in North Branford where Joyce’s favorite thing to do is work in her garden. She also enjoys cooking. Her favorite thing about her house, however, is how close it is to her daughter, Jeannette, who lives in Northford and her son, Jason, who lives in North Guilford. Joyce has six grandkids, including six-month-old Tyler, who is “very cute and such a joy whenever my daughter brings him over.”
Jason has five children, 18-year-old Christopher who will soon be graduating, 13-year-old Abigail, 10-year-old Daniel, 8-year-old Rebecca, and 5 ½-year-old Heidi. Joyce loves spending time with each of her grandkids doing things they enjoy.
“Christopher loves making desserts, cooking, and party planning—he’s a great kid,” says Joyce. “Abigail is the sweetest thing and has a wonderful innocence about her. We’ll watch movies, snuggle, and eat popcorn or go shopping.
“Daniel is wiry with a lot of energy and is into technology, drawing, and Pokemon so when he’s here we try to gear the weekend toward that,” adds Joyce. “Rebecca is a girls’ girl with the dresses, makeup, and little high heel shoes. She’s the cutest thing and smart as a whip. When Heidi was six months old, she’d sit in my lap and watch what the other kids were doing, taking it all in. She’s going to be the one that gives her parents gray hair.”
There are no set plans for retirement yet, but Joyce looks forward to being able to spend even more time with her grandchildren and hopes to enjoy time camping, traveling, and working on their house with Kurt.
For now, though, Joyce will be enjoying her days in her familiar role in the mayor’s office. She encourages residents to call or come in with any questions they have, noting she and the other town employees are there to help. She also enjoys working alongside Maturo.
“I’m content working here and we’ve got a great team at this office,” says Joyce. “I’ve seen a lot of changes in town over the years, most of them for the better, like the amount of businesses that have come into town and the fact that the budget is always balanced. The mayor has done a wonderful job here and always has the best interest of the residents at the forefront of his mind. The people of the town here are great and everybody looks out for one another. It’s a nice community and it’s a growing community.”