Joy Hathaway (born Joy Hathaway Meeker;[1][2] 1913[a] – November 4, 1954)[6] was a Canadian-born American actress on stage, old-time radio, and television.
One of five children and the only daughter born to Bessie Ann Townsend and Henry Clemons Meeker,[7][8][9] Hathaway was from Vancouver, British Columbia.[6] She was educated at Victoria Normal School[10] and graduated from the University of British Columbia, where she acted in productions of the Varsity Players Club.[6]
Hathaway sang in operettas by Gilbert and Sullivan.[10] On Broadway, she portrayed Mrs. Ritter in A Slight Case of Murder (1935), a fitter in The Women (1936), and an usherette in The Fabulous Invalid (1938).[11]
Hathaway's work on radio included the roles shown in the table below.
She also had roles on Young Widder Brown, True Story Tales of Tomorrow,[16]Modern Romances,[17] and Seth Parker.[12]: 300
In 1953, Hathaway was the model for a statue of Sister Thérèse Couderc. Sculptor Pietro Montana created the life-size sculpture of the nun, who was being considered for canonization.[14]
On November 5, 1954, Hathaway died at age 41 of pneumonia in a hospital in Vancouver.[6] Her death came three hours after the funeral for her three-week-old daughter, who also died of pneumonia.[18]
^The age 41 would indicate a birth date between November 1912 and November 1913. Factoring in the 1950 U.S. Census, enumerated on May 12, by which time she has reached age 37,[3] and the 1940 Census, enumerated on April 2, at which time she has not yet reached age 27, seems to narrow that down to April or May 1913.[4] However, if—as both her own and her father's obituaries indicate—Hathaway had no sisters, a contemporaneous report published in January 1913 makes it hard not to conclude that she was born that month.[5]
^"United States 1950 Census", database, FamilySearch (ark:/61903/1:1:6XT1-2CBN : Mon Jan 30 02:54:11 UTC 2023), Entry for Charles F Kenny and Joy Hatthaw Kenny, 12 May 1950.
^
"United States Census, 1940", database with images, FamilySearch (ark:/61903/1:1:K7MJ-WY9 : Wed Apr 05 21:14:01 UTC 2023), Entry for Joy Kenny and Charles Kenny, 1940.