Joyce McGee was born Joyce Knapp in historic Amherstburg. Educated in the local schools, she completed a business course at the Sullivan Business School in Windsor. After a short period with an insurance company in Windsor, she married and moved to Ottawa for a year before establishing a home in Saint-Lambert, Québec. There she lived for thirty-six years, rearing two daughters and two sons. She did voluntary work with the elementary school, later the churches, doing social outreach to help with food banks, clothing depots, and Meals On Wheels. She organized annual antique sales for the support of her own church making use of her growing knowledge of Canadian antiques. During Centennial Year, 1967, she started collecting inexpensive specimens of Canadian antique pressed glass which was relatively easy to find at shows in Montréal, Lennoxville and elsewhere in the Eastern Townships.

 

This activity led her to become a member of Glasfax in London, Ontario, when she moved there with her husband following his retirement in 1988. They began to travel overseas quite a bit chasing an interest in gardens while she designed and planted her own within Rosebank. She also assembled a collection of depression glass for fun. And in the 21st century she and her husband began acquiring interesting pieces of art glass and adding to their accumulation of art and period furniture.

 

She was decelerated by a serious stroke in April 1997, but overcame it sufficiently to travel to Paris and Rome three years later. However time is slowing the couple down. But they enjoy friends and family which keep growing and bringing a true richness to life.