Patricia Joyce Ross passed on Tuesday, November 8, 2022, surrounded by her loving daughters in her home at age 85. Her husband, Norman Ross, passed on in 1998. Born on February 20, 1937, in Sangre Grande, Trinidad and Tobago, she was the daughter of the late Matilda (Campo) and Ferguson Conway.
Patricia Joyce Ross was known affectionately by her siblings as Joycee, friends as Miss Ross, grandchildren as Grams and Grammy, and her children as Mam.
Patricia believed strongly in the importance of education. Although she had only received a primary school education, she worked to put herself through floral design schools in Pittsburgh, PA and Miami, FL and eventually sent her children to America for higher education. She supported her children through their schooling and instilled this same love for learning in her grandchildren.
As a businesswoman and innovator, Joycee was always ahead of her time. For several years she ran a beauty salon out of her own home -- continuously learning new beauty trends to use on her clients. Joycee gravitated towards floristry, where she became known for her floral techniques and balloon designs that had never before been seen on the island. Joyce, an avid learner and teacher, shared her knowledge of the trade through her renowned classes. She was one of the first to teach floristry in Trinidad and was often invited to teach her skills throughout Trinidad and Tobago and even nearby islands like Grenada.
Beyond her work, she was known for her cooking, from her roti and paratha to pholourie, fry bake and pastels to her drops and fudge and Christmastime black rum cake. In her free time, she enjoyed attending Sunday service, keeping up with celebrity news, liming by the ocean in the summers, attending mass at Christmas, and was often found researching ailments of the human body. Most of all, she cherished the time she spent with her grandchildren.
In America, Mam's floristry evolved into a business with her daughters as they would decorate weddings and sell bouquets and arrangements for various holidays like Valentine's Day and Mother's Day. Just last summer in 2021, she handmade every one of the floral arrangements for a family friend's lakeside wedding, including the wedding arch, bouquets, boutonnieres, table toppers, chair covers, and elaborate centrepieces. She would also take her grandchildren to school and attend their field trips and music recitals. On half-days from school, Grammy's home would be a much-cherished hub of fried bake and cartoons.
Patricia is survived by five daughters, Rosanna, wife of Vernon Lights; Donna Ross; Michelle Ross; Sharon, wife of Jerome Jackson; Patrina, wife of Nathan Muller; and; six grandchildren, Haleemah Jackson, Aiesha Muhammad, Brandon Carpenter, Zoe Matilda Muller, Kirston Ransom, Brittany Lights-Tyner; several great-grandchildren; four Siblings, Lorna Trinidade, Yvonne Burnette, Jean Brandom, and Cydrin Thomas; several nieces and nephews; and best friend, Hazel Cunin of Trinidad and Tobago. She was preceded in death by one son, Sean Ross, and three siblings, Gloria Brown, Shirley Boynes, and Lenore Pamponette.
Relatives and friends are invited to attend her funeral mass in St. Ann Chapel, 604 South Main Street, Phoenixville, PA, on Wednesday, November 16, 2022, at 11:00 am. Officiating will be Rev. John J. Newns. Burial will be held in the St. Ann Cemetery, Phoenixville. Friends will be received from 10:00 am - 10:45 am Wednesday in the Chapel. Condolences may be made by visiting www.PhoenixvilleFuneralHome.com. Arrangements are being handled by the Campbell - Ennis - Klotzbach Funeral Home, Inc., Phoenixville, PA.
Mam was a complex person who gave different bits of herself to her children.
Thank you, Joycee, Miss Ross, Grams, Grammy, Mam, for your boundless devotion and sacrifices on our behalf.
You are much loved and will be dearly missed.