Obituary

Joyce Marillyn Kratt 89 died Thursday, September 24, 2026, at HopeHealth Hulitar Hospice Inpatient Center in Providence. She was the widow of Albert Trapper Kratt, Jr. who died in 2014.

Born in Omaha, Nebraska, she was the daughter of the late George E. and Anna June (Engel) Johnson. She attended Benson High School in Nebraska and upon completion took a Secretarial job at the Strategic Air Command Base in Omaha where she met the love of her life and they were married 6 months later. They relocated to Parsippany NJ while Albert finished college and then transferred to Smithfield RI in 1964 where they spent their life and raised their family.

Joyce was a stay-at-home mother. She loved to read and was an avid seamstress and quilter. She loved to cook and serve family all the mid-west home cooked recipes from her mother and grandmother.

She and Al spent their retirement years traveling and attending Elderhostel’s. They were always looking for something new to learn about this wonderful country.

Joyce had an obsession with Christmas and the day after Thanksgiving she would start her decorating of every space of her home, including changing all the curtains. The culmination of her Christmas passion was having the whole family to her home for a Christmas breakfast of Danish pancakes (Ebelskivers), a part of her family’s heritage and tradition.

Joyce is survived by her children: Robin Shields and A. Trapper Kratt, III, her son in law William Shields, her grandchildren Robert and his wife, Jennifer, Brian and his wife, Jessica, William, Margaret, Timothy and Mary-Catherine Shields, and her wife, Kylee, Marc Messier and Karli Kratt and her great grandchildren: Riley, Avery, Chase, Camden (Salisbury), Fiona, Seamus, Owen and Parker Shields. She was the mother of the late Kathy (Kratt) Messier and the sister of the late Georgeann (Johnson) Hepburn.

Her visitation will be held from 4-7pm on Wednesday, September 30, 2026, in the Anderson Winfield Funeral Home, Rt 44 at Greenville Common in Greenville. A service will be held at Anderson Winfield Funeral Home on Thursday October 1, 2026 at 11am. Burial will follow in the RI Veteran’s Cemetery, Exeter. In lieu of flowers, donations in her memory may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association.

Alzheimer's Association

Today I have the difficult honor of saying a few words about my mother. It is hard to put a lifetime of memories into a few minutes. I could begin by talking about my relationship with her. I could tell you about what it was like to be her daughter, to love her, to learn from her and at times, to be challenged by her. But when I think about my memories and what has moved me most about her, I find myself thinking NOT about my relationship with my mother, but about the relationship I watched her build with my children, her grandchildren. There is something very different about the love between a grandmother and her grandchildren. And I have to honestly admit I was always in a bit of awe of that relationship, even a little jealous.

With the kids, I saw a woman who could laugh with them, spoil them, feed them, tell them exactly what was on her mind and somehow make them feel completely safe being themselves. There was freedom in their relationship that I found beautiful to watch.

They didn't see her simply as MY mother. They saw her as THEIR grandmother, and she gave them a relationship that belonged entirely to them.

So how did she master this gravitational skill? The only way to know for sure was to go to the source, my children. Over the course of the last few days, I have spent my time talking to the kids and their insight was invaluable.

First and foremost was food! She always kept the items of food in her house that drew the children there, food I never allowed in my house: Soda, gum, canned ravioli and spaghetti O's, Devil Dogs, and Potato Chips. She knew each of the children's favorite meals and took every opportunity to host many tasty family dinners. Her recipe files were full of her families traditional meals as well as many recipes she collected from the grandchildren. And when Joyce was not cooking, she would treat the children to dinners at their favorite local restaurants.

But to Joyce, it was the food that brought them through the door but once they were there, sitting around the table, she had them right where she wanted them and the fun began, a more subliminal fun.

Joyce was anything but ordinary, not the typical grandmother. She was funny, bold and she certainly never worried too much about what she was supposed to say or whether her grandchildren were too young to absorb it meaning. She spoke her mind regardless. They never really had to wonder what she was thinking because chances were, she had already said it. She had a way of making an impression on my children when they talked. They might not always have agreed with her initially, but ironically, they kept coming back for more and more and more.

She would talk to them, share her thoughts, offer advice, and impart her wisdom. And knowing my mother, I'm sure that wisdom was delivered in her own unmistakable way with a little humor, or a little boldness, and absolutely no sugar coating.

But what I love most about this memory from my children is what it says about my mother. She understood that feeding someone was about so much more than putting food on a plate. It was about bringing people together. It was about making them feel welcome, creating a space where they could talk, and finding those opportunities to share the things she believed were important.

Joyce was a strong woman, but her strength was never the whole story. Deep down, she had an enormous capacity to love. She may not always have expressed that love in a conventional way or wrapped up in soft words and sentimental gestures. But it was there in the times she spent with the kids, in the time she gave of herself just to them. She PROVED in her own way THAT SHE wanted them to be a part of her life and her to be a part of theirs. I think my children will carry these memories for a lifetime, to remember it was not just the taste of her snacks or the laughter they shared, or even the memorable things she said, but the feeling of being loved by someone who was entirely and unapologetically herself. - Robin Shields

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