Joy Brownell Dawson, 68

Joy Brownell Dawson passed away at her home in Rochester, Massachusetts on the morning of June 15th. She was 68 years old.

Joy was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts on May 7, 1957 to Norma and Herbert Silver and raised in Winthrop, MA. She is survived by her husband, Paul Dawson; daughter Liz Brownell and her partner Michael McNally; son Matt Brownell and his wife Carly Conelli; daughter Allie Merfeld and her husband John Merfeld; grandson Lucas Tebeau; brother Barry Silver and his wife Barbara Silver; and sister Carol Rosenthal and her husband Nate Rosenthal.

Joy lived her entire life in Massachusetts and enjoyed a long career in nursing, primarily serving patients at the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center. She married Gene Brownell, a Navy veteran and fellow graduate of Winthrop High School, in 1980, and subsequently gave birth to a daughter, Elizabeth, and son, Matthew. After Gene passed away of cancer in 1988, she navigated her children through their grief and raised them as a single mother while continuing to work as a nurse. She channeled her own grief into compassion by taking her nursing talents to the bone marrow transplant unit at Brigham & Women’s Hospital, where she cared for patients in their own battles against cancer.

Joy remarried in 1993 to Paul Dawson, a dedicated public servant in their hometown of Winthrop; her third child, Allie, was born in 1995.

Joy was diagnosed with a rare neurological disease in 2008, but despite receiving a prognosis of less than seven years, she lived another 17. During this time, she witnessed her children’s marriages and became “Mimi” to her grandson Lucas. Her husband Paul cared for her through the course of her illness, ensuring that she was comfortable at home; friends and family alike were inspired by their love for one another even through the difficult end stages of her illness. Her famous sense of humor never dulled, and she continued to make us laugh up until the very end.

When the end came, she was at home, at peace, and surrounded by her loving family. She donated her brain to scientific research in the hope that it might contribute to a cure for the disease that took her—one last act of caregiving from a woman whose life was defined by compassion and care for her family and patients.

A funeral and celebration of Joy’s life took place at the Ernest P. Caggiano & Son Funeral Home at 147 Winthrop St., Winthrop, Massachusetts on Friday, June 20, 2025. Services concluded interment in the Belle Isle section of Winthrop Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Joy’s memory may be made to CurePSP (psp.org), a nonprofit that funds scientific research into rare neurological diseases.

To sign the online guestbook, go to www.caggianofuenralhome.com