Joy Hathaway

Joy Hathaway, born Joy Hathaway Meeker in 1913 in Vancouver, British Columbia, was a Canadian-born American actress whose career spanned stage, radio, and television. The only daughter among five children born to Bessie Ann Townsend and Henry Clemons Meeker, she received her education at Victoria Normal School and later graduated from the University of British Columbia, where she participated in productions through the Varsity Players Club. Early in her performing life, she sang in operettas by Gilbert and Sullivan.

Hathaway's Broadway career ran from 1935 to 1938 and encompassed three productions. She portrayed Mrs. Ritter in A Slight Case of Murder in 1935, played a fitter in The Women in 1936, and took on the role of an usherette in The Fabulous Invalid in 1938. Beyond the stage, she maintained an active presence in old-time radio, accumulating roles across multiple programs including Young Widder Brown, True Story Tales of Tomorrow, Modern Romances, and Seth Parker, as well as additional radio work documented in her credits. She also appeared on television.

In 1953, Hathaway served as the model for a life-size statue of Sister Thérèse Couderc, a nun then being considered for canonization. Sculptor Pietro Montana created the work. In her personal life, Hathaway was married to composer Charles Kenny.

Hathaway died on November 5, 1954, in a hospital in Vancouver at the age of 41, from pneumonia. Her death occurred three hours after the funeral for her three-week-old daughter, who had also died of pneumonia.