BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. – Joyce Sessler Merson, 69, of Boynton Beach, Fla., died Sunday, Oct 15. Pancreatic cancer claims 75 percent of its victims in the first year after diagnosis. Just 5 percent survive five years or more.

Joyce lived in Lewiston from 1962 to 1988. She taught parenting classes at Lewiston High School evening school, participated in the League of Women Voters and, in her work for the Maine Attorney General’s office, kept tabs on used car sales lots.

Originally from Queens, N.Y., Joyce embraced the Twin Cities, if not the Maine winters.

She was a member of the YWCA board and the Temple Shalom Sisterhood, and frequented the local yarn and fabric stores.

She is survived by her husband, David; and their three children, Martha Merson of Massachusetts, Andrea Lawrence of Colorado, and Gary Merson of Washington, D.C.