July 10, 2007 – Joyce Alicia Anduze LaMotta died on June 27, on St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. She was born on March 1, 1933, to the late Dr. Roy A. Anduze and Audrey Dunlop Shamwell in Washington, D.C. She grew up on St. Thomas and upon completion of her junior year at the Charlotte Amalie High School, she moved to Washington, D.C., where she completed her formal education, met, and married Leroy A. Bowman. That union produced a son, Leroy, who now resides in New York with his wife Kelly. Her stepmother, Vivian Anduze, also predeceased Joyce.
Joyce continued her studies in nursing at Hunter College in New York, where she was "discovered" by a professional photographer Rupert Callender, whom she later married and with whom she had a daughter, Vivian Mildred Anduze Callender. Joyce entered the world of fashion and was reputed to have been one of the most sought after runway models of her time, later becoming a part of the Ebony Fashion Fair show. She then worked for seven years with the Ebony Fashion Fair as Assistant Home Service Director, traveling to over 46 states and through 62 cities. Her daughter recalls that in the modeling world Joyce was known as a chameleon, a small change in her lipstick color or hairstyle would change her look completely.
Under the auspices of the United States Department of Commerce, in 1961, Joyce traveled to Ghana and while there produced a fashion show at the first Trade Fair ever to be held in Africa. She married a Ghanaian businessman at the Waldorf Astoria in New York and then resided in Ghana while operating a fashion school until her return to St. Thomas a few years later.
Upon her return to St. Thomas, Joyce immersed herself in her new job as Advertising Manager for the Daily News and later did a stint as a writer for the Department of Health, all the while exposing new local talent on her Thursday night television show, The Ladies Say. Joyce until her death was always a believer in nurturing local talent in the music world. Joyce married her late husband, Wilbur "Bill" LaMotta, and they operated the Music Man and the Guitar Lady stores downtown, Havensight and Barbel Plaza. Their stores were frequented by many musicians and others interested in music.
Joyce was physically beautiful, but her inner self was amazing also; she served as a role model for her daughter, Vivian, who candidly states she received her beauty, photographic memory, tremendous organizational skills, strong sense of entrepreneurship and an attitude of taking no nonsense from others, directly from her mother, Joyce Anduze LaMotta. Most of all Joyce was fun, outspoken and lived a life of no regrets. Many in the community will remember her and that dazzling smile.
Joyce was a devout Buddhist and they will have a memorial service in her remembrance on Monday, July 16, 2007, at 3:30 p.m., in the Sun Room of the Schneider Regional Medical Center. There will also be a celebration of Joyce's life at the John Thomas Funeral Home, on Tuesday, July 24, 2007, at 10 a.m., with the interment to follow at Western Cemetery Number One. Joyce's friends and family are invited to share in both of these remembrances.
Joyce is survived by her mother, Audrey Shamwell; son, Leroy LaMotta; daughter, Vivian Lampel; brothers: Roy A, Anduze Jr. and Earl Shamwell Jr.; and sisters: Earline, Linda and Toni Shamwell. In addition to her immediate family, Joyce leaves many cousins in the Watlington, Lockhart and Anduze families, as well as many friends.
