I’ve been friends with JoAnn since I first met her and her first husband Tom back in 1973 when they stopped by my house to inquire about land for sale in the area. They ended up buying the old Madden farm, a large property adjoining my own land. Somewhere along the way she purchased a camp on Clary Lake at the end of Maplewood Road off Hodsdon Lane, a camp which is now the year-round home of her daughter Juliana. JoAnn has been a supporting member of the Clary Lake Association for many years as has her husband Ellis Percy, a close personal friend of mine and President of the Association from 2011 until 2014. JoAnn was a marvelous gardener and grew vegetables like nobody’s business. I’ve followed her journey fighting cancer for the last 4 years, a journey she managed with optimism, courage and aplomb.
JoAnn Tribby of Jefferson, Maine died on Monday, April 6 from pancreatic cancer. She and her family are grateful for the outstanding care she received from Dr. Benton and all the staff at New England Cancer Center in Topsham, Dr. Anne Jacobs of Newcastle, and Val Despres RN of MaineHealth Hospice.
JoAnn was born on April 30, 1947 in Norwalk, Connecticut to Kerstin and Charles Tribby. She has one sister, Linda (Tribby) Meurer, now of Cromwell, Connecticut. When JoAnn was twelve, the family moved to Still Hill Road in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, where they lived on a small farm raising goats, sheep, chickens, and horses, and kept a garden. She was active in the General 4H Club led by her mother. She also belonged to the Taunton Sheep Club, showed her sheep, and won Reserved Champion at the Eastern State Exposition. She belonged to a 4H Riding Club and rode horses through the idyllic Connecticut countryside with friends — including her lifelong friend Barbara Lee O’Halloran, who would later move to Jefferson with her own family after coming to visit JoAnn.
In 1964, JoAnn graduated from Newtown High School and attended Salem College in West Virginia for one year before transferring to Western Connecticut State University, where she earned her teaching degree in 1969. That same year she married her high school sweetheart, Tom Hoffmann. A generous friend offered their home on Bremen Long Island for the honeymoon — and it was there that JoAnn and Tom fell in love for a second time – this time with a place called Maine.
JoAnn and Tom purchased land in Whitefield, visiting often to camp and plan their future home. Meanwhile, they traveled to Spain and England for Tom to study classical guitar, later he earned his Master’s degree in Music at Syracuse University. On a visit to Whitefield, a young man named George Ferguson told them about the Madden farm up for sale. They drove along a dirt road, up a hill lined with sugar maples, and arrived at the top to find the farm. This is the place.
They sold their land and purchased the farm in 1973. Cultivating life and beauty there became JoAnn’s heartfelt dedication for the rest of her life.
At the farm, JoAnn built a life rooted in the values and knowledge of her childhood — a deep love for the earth and all its creatures. With her boundless energy she tended chickens, geese, goats, sheep, horses, ponies, cows, cats, and dogs. She kept a large garden and orchard, grew most of the family’s food, and preserved it for winter. Her creativity was ever-present: she had a gift for solving problems with the resources on hand, and for finding artistry in the everyday. During this time she also opened an antique shop in the Jefferson Mill, where her dear friend Theresa Burrill ran a craft and art gallery.
JoAnn had two children, Juliana, born in 1976, and Jonathan, born in 1979, and around the family a warm community of neighbors grew — local families with children the same age, sharing life together in a way that felt truly special. JoAnn looked back on those years with great happiness.
She brought that same spirit to her work at Jefferson Village School, where she worked in special education, and in the early 1990s she joined four other women to found an alternative Sudbury school in Gardiner. In 1995, JoAnn and Tom divorced. JoAnn then opened Blueberry Hill Bed and Breakfast at the farm and worked at Damariscotta Pottery as a painter.
JoAnn met Ellis Percy, a local farmer and entrepreneur, when JoAnn was working for him making dilly beans. Their friend Aloisia Pollock suggested a first date. Longtime bachelor, Ellis knew on the second date that JoAnn was the one, and on the third date he told her “I’m having some difficultly because I don’t date employees” and JoAnn said, “ok, I don’t work for you anymore.” They fell in love and built a life together at the farm. In 2005 they married. They shared 31 years together.
JoAnn’s family expanded through this union to include Ellis’s two children from a previous marriage, Delia and Rufus. As they began families of their own, JoAnn’s love for the grandchildren was constant and warm. Visiting with Papa Moo and Dama was always a magical and wonder filled experience. There were calves and ponies to pet, a garden filled with yummy veggies, and let’s not forget the blueberry barrens!
In 2013, JoAnn retired from her work as a painter at Damariscotta Pottery and running the B&B. But she never stepped back from the farm itself. She cared for it, and it cared for her, right up until the end.
JoAnn’s legacy lives on in those who knew her well. Her integrity, her forward posture about everything, her devotion to her animals, her friends, her children, her husband, and the land itself — all that made up her home — spoke of a life lived with deep knowing. Her daily devotion to tending her world created roots that run wide and deep, leaving all who knew her inspired and called to carry her torch forward.
She is pre-deceased by Kerstin and Charles Tribby.
JoAnn is survived by husband Ellis Percy, sister Linda Tribby, son Jonathan Hoffmann and wife Holly Hoffmann, daughter Juliana Hoffmann, step-daughter Delia Cunningham and husband Tim Cunningham, step-son Rufus Percy and wife Molly Frost, grandchildren Zeke, Kleanthi, Felix Cunningham, and Calvin, Lowell, and Silas Percy.
JoAnn is deeply and dearly missed by everyone whose life she touched. She will be buried in the Noyes Cemetery at the farm on Wednesday, April 8 at 10:00 AM. A celebration of her life will be held on June 20th at the farm. In lieu of flowers, the family kindly asks that you consider donating to Sacred Connections: https://www.sacred-connections.org/take-action.
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