Joy Doner Mazzeo

Joy Doner Mazzeo passed away peacefully on August 14, 2025, at her home at Vista del Monte in Santa Barbara, California. She was just shy of her 90th birthday. She was born in Akron, Ohio and lived much of her life in Chillicothe, Ohio and Waverly, Ohio, where she built a business at Lake White with her first husband, Samuel J. Wilkins, Jr. Joy was the first woman to get a Master of Science Degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Ohio University. She went on to become a computer programmer at Goodyear Atomic Corporation near Waverly, Ohio at a time when familiarity with computers was a cutting-edge technology. When she retired from Goodyear, she and her first husband moved to Lake Worth, Florida. After her first husband passed away, Joy married Giacomo (Jack) Mazzeo. She also returned to the workplace, first at UPS and later at Florida Power & Light. After her second husband passed away, Joy moved to Santa Barbara to be near her brother, David W. Doner Jr. (now deceased) and experienced some of the happiest years of her life at Vista del Monte. She was active with the many retirement center activities at Vista (playing bridge, singing and welcoming new residents) as well as singing in the choir at Unity Church of Santa Barbara. Joy was a loving figure for over 70 years in the lives of her stepchildren, S. John Wilkins III (Shari) and Leslee Rose Wilkins Miraldi (David), in the lives of her grandchildren, Virginia Miraldi Utz, Emily Rae Miraldi, Daniel Paul Miraldi, Samuel J. Wilkins IV and Nicole Rose Wilkins, and four great-grandchildren, Brendan, Thomas, Rose and Ray. Joy is also survived by a nephew, David Austin Doner, two nieces, Ivy Elizabeth Doner and Aria Doner-Tudanger, and a grand-nephew, Ember. Joy always had a special relationship with the former wife of her brother David, Lilli Ayers Doner. Lilli was a kind and loving central figure in Joy’s Santa Barbara years. Joy was preceded in death by her much-loved younger sister Gaye Doner Tudanger. Graveside services in Grandview Cemetery, Chillicothe, Ohio, will be private. Funeral arrangements were made through Welch-Ryce-Haider Funeral Chapels. Donations may be made in Joy’s memory at the Vista Fund of the Front Porch Communities Foundation, 800 N. Brand Blvd., 19th Floor, Glendale, CA 91203.

Joy Doner Mazzeo

November 22, 1935 - August 14, 2025