Joyce Ann Boucheron

It is with great sadness that the family of Joyce Ann Boucheron announces her passing on November 8, 2025. Joyce was born in Syracuse, NY, in 1955. She was the daughter of Jean Edward Boucheron, Jr. and Ruth Emma Bennett Boucheron. Joyce is survived by William (“Bill”) Mahony, beloved husband of 44 years, and beloved daughter Leah B. Mahony, both of Durham NC, where Joyce and Bill raised Leah and have lived for 42 years.

Joyce excelled at every stage of her education, graduating from LaFayette Central High School, just south of Syracuse NY; SUNY Potsdam College, with a B.A. in Biology and Chemistry; and Syracuse University, with an M.S. in Biology. Near the end of her graduate work at Syracuse, and near the end of a challenging course titled “Enzymes and Enzyme Kinetics,” Joyce found herself in a final project working in a small group of four students that included Bill. The project was a success but was dwarfed by the spectacular chemistry between Joyce and Bill that emerged rapidly and joyfully from this serendipitous opportunity to work together. Two years later, Joyce completed her Masters program, and Bill and Joyce, now married, packed a box of groceries in Joyce’s small rusty Honda… and headed south to North Carolina with the romantic notion of finding work. With Bill, Joyce soon found another love-at-first sight: Durham, NC - and she never looked back!

Joyce spent her career working in nearby Research Triangle Park, NC, as a scientist in chemical toxicology research at CIIT and in pharmaceutical drug discovery at Glaxo/Glaxo Wellcome/GlaxoSmithKline. Work was good, but in 1986, life clarified further with the birth of beautiful daughter Leah, Joyce’s and Bill’s most joyful and important life mission from that moment forward.

Joyce enjoyed all things food related, and a favorite happy place was her kitchen where she loved to try new vegetarian recipes from a wide variety of food cultures. Quiet by nature, Joyce was bold and courageous in the kitchen, resulting in superb meals, often beautifully presented and always wonderfully delicious.

Joyce and Bill also enjoyed European travel together, marveling at cathedrals and art museums and especially enjoying hiking trips. In more recent times, the two found peace, and a quiet joy, during countless walks on trails and paths in their own backyard - near the Eno River, in Duke Forest, and even just around their neighborhood.

Joyce was very grateful for her 36 devoted years as a longtime active member of the Eno River Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (ERUUF) in Durham, NC. Joyce served in many roles but, in recent years, was lay leader of Care Ministries. As always, Joyce led with a quiet, selfless strength and an uncompromising personal integrity. Her relentlessly kind and compassionate life touched many lives and inspired the friendship of many, especially those in the ERUUF family who knew her best.

Joyce was predeceased by her parents, her two brothers Stanley Boucheron (1951) and Stephen Boucheron (2022), her father’s dear second wife Louise (2019), and her extended family brother-in-law Dan Statler (2023), along with three beloved dogs - Gus, Clover, and Miles - who, together, brought 34 years of joy into her longtime Durham family home.

Joyce is also survived by her Uncle Paul Boucheron, cousins Lorraine and Robert Boucheron, nephews Eric Boucheron and Brian Boucheron (Rachel Lee), and sister-in-law Linda Boucheron, along with extended family siblings Don and Lisa Pickard, Sue Statler, Jane and Mike Stull, Mike and Margaret Pickard, Phyllis Pickard, and their children and grandchildren. Joyce also was instantly adopted and loved unconditionally by the family of husband Bill.