Johanna Frances Macri, lovingly known as Joey, passed away on October 19, 2026, at the age of 44. Born in Brattleboro, Vermont, Joey grew up in Alstead, New Hampshire, where she attended Walpole Grade School and Fall Mountain Regional High School. Her childhood was filled with the kind of neighborhood friendships that become part of a person's story forever. Surrounded by families whose children grew up together, Joey spent her early years playing, exploring, and making memories with friends she would hold close for the rest of her life. Many of those friendships began through a neighborhood childcare cooperative and remained an important part of her world until her final days.

Joey caught the acting bug early, beginning with a theater camp led by neighborhood friend Lesle Lewis. One of her first productions, The First Cloud, was written and performed by the neighborhood children and presented at the Walpole Unitarian Church Parish House. Her love of theater continued through middle and high school with Acting Out, a Keene-based youth theater group. She also had the pleasure of working with Chickie Miller, first as a performer and later directing children's productions at the Walpole Town Hall. With her creativity, expressive personality, and natural flair for the dramatic, the stage was a fitting place for Joey.

She went on to attend Johnson State College in Vermont, where she continued pursuing her love of theater. Along the way, she followed her younger sister Maggie to Kentucky, enrolling at the University of Kentucky and spending a semester soaking up Southern culture while enjoying the chance to live alongside her sister and best friend. She later completed her undergraduate studies and went on to earn a master's degree in clinical psychology from Antioch University New England.

Joey had a genuine curiosity about the world and loved the experiences and people she discovered along the way. She spent several years as a beloved nanny, a role that gave her the opportunity to explore many of the country's national parks and satisfy some of her wanderlust. Her travels also took her to Italy, Peru, California, and Hawaii. Whether exploring somewhere new or spending time with the people she loved, Joey appreciated the experiences that made life interesting.

Nothing, however, brought Joey greater joy than her children, Luna Rose, 9, and Remi, 4. Motherhood was a role she embraced wholeheartedly and in a way that was distinctly her own. She filled their lives with love, laughter, creativity, and conversation, encouraging their curiosity and imagination while celebrating the little people they were becoming. Her devotion to them was at the heart of everything she did.

Joey was bright, kind, sensitive, and wonderfully herself. She had an unmistakable sense of style, a beautiful smile, a laugh that could fill a room, and a gift for making genuine connections with people. She was thoughtful and compassionate, with a playful spirit and a personality that was impossible to duplicate. She valued the people in her life deeply, and many of her closest friendships were the same ones she had carried with her since childhood. There was simply no one quite like Joey.

Joey's absence will be felt in countless ways: in the conversations that won't be quite the same, the laughter that will always remind us of her, the stories we'll tell again and again, and the ordinary moments when we wish she were here to share them. But the joy she brought into this world does not disappear with her passing. It lives on in her children, in the friendships she nurtured, in the people she encouraged to be themselves, and in every life made brighter by knowing her.

Joey is survived by her beloved children, Luna Rose and Remi Gendreau; her mother, Heidi Bridgewater, and stepfather, John Bridgewater; her father, Fran Macri, and stepmother, Debbie Macri; her sister, Jami Macri; her nephews, Trajan, Jupiter, and Zorian; and many loving aunts, cousins, extended family members, and lifelong friends.

She was predeceased by her beloved younger sister, Maggie Rose Macri, and her nephew, Phoenix.

The Bridgewater and Macri families would like to extend their heartfelt gratitude to Chris, Tiffany, and Melissa Neal, whose love, kindness, and care surrounded Joey during her final days in Chris's home. Their generosity and compassion will never be forgotten. We will love you forever.

A celebration of Joey’s life will be planned for a later date.