Joan E. (Holden) Csizmadia

It is with heavy hearts that we announce the peaceful passing of Joan Holden Csizmadia, age 79, on April 15, 2024. Joan was surrounded by the love of her family at the time of her passing.  

Joan was born in Bridgeport on December 16, 1944. She is predeceased by her parents, Harold and Grace Holden, her sister Karen Schaalman, and her adoring husband, Thomas Csizmadia.

Joan is survived by her sons, Thomas Csizmadia, Jr. and his wife, Kathleen (Fairfield), Timothy and his partner, Rose Biro (Newtown), Scott and his wife, Terri (Shelton), and Brian and his wife, Kelly (Trumbull). Joan is the loving grandmother of Anthony (Amanda), Kati, Brandon, Colin, Scott Jr., Summer, and Colton, and great-grandmother to Holden. She leaves behind her sisters, Linda Nowlan (William) and Deborah Holden, and brother, James Holden (Lisa Meyer), several treasured nieces and nephews, and many lifelong friends, as well as Laura Csizmadia who was very special to her. 

In the summer of 1959 at the age of fourteen, Joan met the love of her life and future husband, Tom, and began the first chapter of the love story that resulted in fifty-three years of marriage, four sons, seven grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. Theirs is a story of eternal love and an inspiration to anyone who knew them. 

After her graduation from Bassick High School, Joan worked as a teller at People’s Bank before staying at home to raise her family. Later, Joan went on to work for The Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport, Fairfield University, and Easton Public Schools, where she was the administrative assistant to the principal at Helen Keller Middle School before her retirement in 2015. The candy bowl on Joan’s desk was always full and drew in grateful students and staff alike. She took pride in her work space and enjoyed decorating it for holidays, bringing joy to everyone who stopped by the main office. Rumor has it she never wore the same outfit to work twice.

Joan had an eye for decorating and loved to spend hours looking through magazines, often folding over the corners of pages for ideas or future online orders. Anyone who visited Joan also knew of the impressive stacks of magazines and catalogs on her coffee table. Home decorating and makeover shows were Joan’s favorite. In earlier years, Joan loved her garden and would take Tom on many trips to the local nurseries to pick out the perfect flowers for their yard and front steps. Joan never met a room she didn’t want to renovate, and Tom indulged her, painted, and repainted until it was just right.

Together, Joan and Tom loved to celebrate the holidays, hosting dinners that seemed to grow each year, an annual Christmas party that filled their home wall-to-wall with cherished family and friends, celebrating the Fourth of July at South Benson Marina where their boat, Wet N Wild, was docked, and hosting barbecues which she called, “picnics” in their backyard each summer. Everyone gathered to enjoy her delicious shrimp salad and potato salad while telling stories and laughing for hours. Joan’s quest to find the biggest, fullest live Christmas tree that she could fit in her living room was legendary. She outdid herself year after year. She loved to go overboard buying and wrapping gifts for her children and grandchildren. Her Hungarian pastries (“Hunkie Cakes”) were a family favorite along with all of the other Christmas cookies she baked with love. She made a warm, inviting home for her family, friends, and her sons’ friends. Everyone loved “Mrs. C.” and always felt welcomed there.

In recent years, Joan enjoyed attending the baseball, basketball, and soccer games of her grandchildren, and she took great pride in their accomplishments. Joan had a deep faith in God and love for Jesus. Joan felt strongly that God saw her through the most difficult times in her life, and she was often quoted saying, “God will provide.” Her loving sisters and her life-long friends continued to visit her during her illness, remembering better days. Joan was well cared for by her sons and their families until her passing. Since the loss of her husband, Joan has dreamed of being reunited with him in heaven. Her family takes comfort in knowing that Joan and Tom are enjoying a magnificent reunion seven years and three months in the making, and that heaven is a beach in the Bahamas, their favorite vacation spot together.

The Csizmadia family would like to thank the amazing medical staff at The Jewish Home for the Elderly, Sunrise of Fairfield, and those with The Sheraton Caregivers, especially her constant caregiver, Kizzie, for partnering with them in making Joan’s final months as peaceful and comfortable as possible.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Friday, April 19, 2024 at 10:00 AM meeting directly at St. Pius X Roman Catholic Church, 834 Brookside Drive, Fairfield. Interment will follow in Lawncroft Cemetery, Fairfield. Family and friends may call on Thursday from 4-8pm at the Spear-Miller Funeral Home, 39 South Benson Road, Fairfield. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you consider making a donation to the American Heart Association, P.O. Box 840692, Dallas, TX 75284-0692.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Joan E. (Holden) Csizmadia, please visit our floral store.