Joyce P. Chiumento

Dr. Joyce Polidoro Chiumento passed away due to natural causes over the fourth of July weekend of 2025 at age 82. Dr. Chiumento was born in 1943 to William (Willie Hoppe) and Josephine Polidoro in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Joyce lived with her family and attended private elementary school, where she earned the perseverance award, followed by four years of high school in an all girls private school where she earned top grades and was elected into the student council honor society of “Red Ribbon Students”. She then completed college at Temple University, earning a bachelor of the arts degree as well as her masters and ultimately a doctorate degree in sociology. Dr. Chiumento graduated with top honors, a fellowship from the National Institute of Mental Health and several teaching assistantship awards. Joyce was a natural academic, enjoying every minute of her learning, and continued to foster a thirst for knowledge throughout her entire life.

She married in 1968 and she honeymooned in the U.S. Virgin Islands where she ended up living and working. She was a teacher at Wayne Aspinall Junior High School in St. Thomas for one year, after which she moved back to her birth state of Pennsylvania. While working on her dissertation for her doctoral degree, she gave birth to her first daughter in 1970, Tara Miles, who she cared for while continuing her studies. She later gave birth to her second daughter, Shanda Chiumento Overmyer, in 1977, completing her loving family. Joyce was always known for her fun-loving demeanor and she often hosted delightful dinners and parties, gave endless help, and was always there as a support and guide for her friends and family.

 Joyce was a strong, well educated businesswoman who helped many with her accomplished careers in sociology, education, and real estate. While living in Pennsylvania, she worked as a university instructor and educator of professional medical students at the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, Thomas Jefferson School of Allied Health Professionals, Bryn Mawr Hospital, Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, and Alden University. Dr. Chiumento attained licenses for professional consultation and related therapy, teaching combined courses in sociology and psychology, as well as interpersonal relationship counseling. 

In 1983, Joyce moved back to the island of St. Thomas, a paradise which she fell in love with when she first visited in 1968, with her two girls. She made a life for herself and her beloved daughters with her immense courage, outgoing attitude, and intellectual background. Joyce continued to follow her passion of psychology and healthcare through continuing to work in professional consultation and therapy in her new island home. She also became an established real estate professional, founded her own real estate brokerage agency, and owned and managed nine properties stateside and on St. Thomas for over 50 years. She served the people of St. Thomas by facilitating the renting, buying, selling, and acquiring of private properties for countless members of the community. Joyce also added to her varied life experiences and showed her versatility in skill by playing auxiliary roles in films A Woman Named Jackie and Weekend at Bernie’s II. 

Dr. Joyce P. Chiumento will be remembered by all who knew her as the vibrant, vivacious, endlessly knowledgeable, astoundingly courageous, and deeply caring individual she was as well as a devoted and loving mother, sister, and grandmother. She had a brilliant mind, and she excelled in each field she entered throughout her life. She was a spirited, generous, and determined person whose energetic enthusiasm will be very much missed.

 Dr. Joyce Chiumento, to whom family was always of the utmost importance, is survived by her two daughters, Tara Miles and Shanda Chiumento Overmyer, her son-in-law Nicholas Overmyer and her beloved grandchildren in descending age order: Portia Miles, Roman Overmyer, and Ariana Overmyer, siblings William Polidoro (Esther), Joanna Betesh (Marc), and Madeline Nick (Jeffrey), and many extended relatives and friends. Joyce was predeceased by her brothers Robert, James, and Gaeten Polidoro as well as her son-in-law, Erik Miles.

The Funeral Mass will be held Monday July 28th at 11am at Annunciation BVM 1511 South 10th St, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19147.

There will also be a Mass in her honor on Saturday, December 20th, at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Mafolie, beginning at 10 a.m. Interment of ashes will be at Mafolie Cemetery and reception after at the Mafolie Rectory. In lieu of flowers, please donate to your charity of choice.