Joy Eloise Smith was born on May 1, 1931 to Capt. George Leonard Smith, U.S.N. and Bradie Baker in Winnebago County, Illinois. Her father, inventor of the Smith-Asbury mechanism, was a descendent of some of the earliest New England and Virginia families. Joy graduated from the Holton-Arms School in Bethesda, Maryland in 1949 and later graduated from Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts. She married Nicholas Starr of Alexandria, Virginia in August 1963. At the time of her marriage she was the State chairman of the District Daughters of the American Revolution Junior Membership Committee.

In 1964, the couple bought Appledore, (also known as Poplar Vale) an historic house constructed around 1806 located at 3000C Fox Mill Road in Oakton, VA. An amateur historian, Joy undertook extensive research on the surrounding neighborhoods of Vale, Navy, Pender, and Floris. She contributed to Edward Wagstaff’s Fairfax City Times column “Historically Speaking” writing articles about Appledore, Vale, and Fox Mill’s history in 1964 and 1965.

In January 1968, the Starrs helped establish the Navy-Vale Community League which fought for the community’s interests. In 1990, she served as Chairman of the Fox Mill Communities Preservation Association History Committee. The following year, Joy completed an unpublished manuscript entitled “Vale History: From Money’s Corner through Difficult” which explored the history of the Vale and Fox Mill neighborhoods including 18th and 19th century houses. The Starrs sold Appledore in 2000 to developers who built new houses on the property while preserving the historic house. Joy Starr passed away on June 23, 2017 in Fremont, New Hampshire.