Joet M. Hart

Joet “Judy” Martheta Hart was born on Sunday, May 18th, 1947, in Red Hills, St. Andrew, Jamaica to Robert and Clarice Dawkins, the fourth of six children. She attended Red Hills Elementary School and Dunrobin High School where she was a prefect (Latin: praefectus: meaning “put in front”). In Jamaica, prefects are selected by school administrators for their reliability, discipline, and ability to lead others. As a prefect, Judy was given a badge to wear on her school uniform and was responsible for promoting good conduct among students. While at Dunrobin, she developed a keen attention to detail and special knack for math. As a teenager she was a bit of a princess and her mother, Clarice, referred to her as “delicate”. She wasn’t the sporty type and preferred leisure activities such as sitting on her mother’s veranda, taking walks with friends, or painting, which she did exceptionally well. Her first job after high school was working as a bookkeeper at Seaport West, the Port Authority of Jamaica in Kingston where she developed her financial and professional skills. At the age of 21, Judy immigrated to the United States. Her first stop was Brooklyn, New York where she lived with her cousins Christine and Shirley Dawkins and Christine’s husband Mitch. Initially, she sorely missed Jamacia and her family back home and to top it off she recalled how she had difficulty caring for her usually well-maintained hair that she meticulously “pressed” with a hot comb because of the thick and unrelenting New York City humidity. While waiting for her immigration papers, she worked as a live-in au pair for a Jewish family in Roslyn, Long Island. During the week, she would do light housekeeping and care for the family’s children. On Friday evenings, she would return to Brooklyn to spend the weekends. After securing her permanent work permit, Judy heard that the Bankers Trust in Manhattan was hiring and decided to fill out an application. She recalled the large number of people who showed up to apply and how intimidated she felt. She wondered how a young Jamaican girl could compete with all the American applicants pouring into the building. Her first thought was to turn around and head back home but she decided to stay and see it through. Her tenacity paid off, she interviewed and was later offered the head teller position at the bank-not bad for a newly arrived immigrant with little to no banking experience! Judy was a quick study and her professionalism, quick-wit, and radiant smile instantly won over her peers and customers alike. In June of 1972, Judy married Richard “Richie” Hart, her childhood sweetheart from Jamaica who immigrated to Brooklyn five years earlier. The pair were known for attending weekend Brooklyn basement parties and were always dressed to impress in the trendiest clothes the 70s had to offer. High-heel, knee-high, go-go boots, hot pants and miniskirts were all the rage and she wore them well. Judy was always “fashion forward” and was often asked to sew items for various family and friends. Their first child, Tanya, was born some years later but that didn’t stop Judy and Richie from continuing to hit the Brooklyn party scene, with Tanya in tow! In 1978, Richie received a job transfer with the Greyhound Bus company in Jacksonville, Florida so they moved south for warmer weather and new opportunities. They lived in Florida for less than a year then moved on to Atlanta, Georgia. Shortly after, they bought their first home, a brick house with yellow shutters on a big corner lot in Ellenwood. They had their second child Richard Hart, Jr. and Judy continued her career at various banking institutions around the city. In February of 1984, she landed a job at the CDC Federal Credit Union in Decatur, Georgia where she quickly rose through the ranks and became one of the most popular and trusted bankers in the company. Many members would ask for her by name and wait however long they needed for her to become available to make sure that she managed their money. As a mother, she allowed Tanya and Richard to be active in any extracurricular activities they were interested in as long as they showed proper dedication to their schoolwork. She disliked mediocrity, conflict, and disorder and mothered with a light but firm touch. Judy seemed to manage her home and career with a certain ease, sophistication, and style. Judy enjoyed taking pictures of her family (tons of rolls of family film were developed at Eckerd Drugs Photography), tending to her rose garden and lush and beautiful indoor plants, sitting with her feet up on her outdoor porch, and making clothes on her in-table, pedal powered Singer sewing machine which she revved with her foot and vibrated the first floor of the house at various hours of the day or night. She was known for her gorgeous long nails that she manicured and polished every Sunday night before going to bed to make sure they were perfect for the following work week. Various shades of red polish were her favorite. In her later years, she became an avid reader biographies and books and movies on African culture. She and was very interested in news, politics, current events, and the latest diet fads. Judy was sentimental and a collector of things she felt were important. She organized and kept anything she felt connected to: important news articles, magazines, her daughter’s first pink radio, or her son’s first model car. On a recent visit she watched Tanya and Richard marvel at the old yellow Tupperware pitcher they used to make kool-aid as children. She quietly watched their excitement and later commented “I saw you guys earlier, NOW you finally appreciate that I kept everything!” Judy retired from the credit union in 2016 after working there for 32 years and became of woman of leisure by spending her time “however she saw fit”. Among other things, she enjoyed watching nightly tv and discussing and analyzing local news and current events with her sister, Viveen. Her greatest joy was visiting and spending time with her two grandchildren whom she adored and referred to as her “precious ones”. We are fortunate to know a radiant woman who loves her family and exuded patience, grace, and resilience, with a heart of pure 24 karat gold. Her legacy includes her daughter, Tanya Hart-Dike’, son-in-law, Frank Dike’, son, Richard Hart Jr., daughter-in-law Latoya Hart; and her grandchildren Zoie and Zion Hart. She is loved by her siblings, Joan Flemister, Winston Dawkins, Claude Dawkins, Viveen Dawkins, and Beverly Morrison and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, extended family, friends, and admirers.

Tributes

Joet M. Hart

May 18, 1947 - May 18, 2023