Since her passing in April 2020, the EAC community has deeply felt the loss of Joyce Weber. “We will all miss her for the rest of our lives,” wrote Heidi Reidell, responding to a group of past International Dinner photos shared on Facebook by Robin Farrin. “What an example of kindness , humor, energy, high standards and never too proud to quietly clean the kitchen.”
“What a gem!” added Lilli Danaea. “She has been on my mind a lot recently; also really missing her and grateful I was able to meet her and know her for the few years I did.”
“Joyce Weber, EAC’s founding Board President, had her hands deep into many of the Arts Center’s activities of course, and one of her favorite’s was our annual International Dinner,” wrote current Board President Gregory Biss. “Joyce was an adventurous cook who dipped regularly into various cuisines so she had an insider’s interest in those famously laden tables. In the years before we acquired our present home, it was always
a scramble to find a venue which could comfortably hold up to 150 folks for this event. We used a number of spaces all over town, from the Mincton Building (currently The Commons) to the Episcopal Church rectory, Eastport Elementary School and, during one memorably howling February Nor’easter in the mid-90’s, in the Knights of Pythias hall on the lower level of the current Full Fathom Five building, an evening which severely challenged but did not surmount Joyce’s organizational skills.“
EAC Director Chris Grannis, custodian of Joyce’s recipe box on behalf of the Arts Center, shared the following images in case home cooks would care to remember Joyce by starting with cheese puffs and finishing with a chocolate trifle! More from Joyce’s collection will be shared in an upcoming International Cookbook project. Volunteers are sought to help; please email Chris, chris@eastportartscenter.org, to get involved.
The work of Eastport Arts Center is funded in part by a grant from the Maine Arts Commission, an independent state agency supported by the National Endowment for the Arts.