Entertainer, Entrepreneur. She was a native-Hawaiian, who was dubbed "the Shirley Temple of Hawaii," with her childhood singing and dancing routines. Born Joy Valderrama, the second of four daughters, her parents had relocated to Hawaii from the Philippines before she was born. Her mother had been a school teacher before her marriage and her father attended the University of the Philippines studying accounting, but became a barber after relocating to Hawaii. She began singing and dancing in revues at the age of six. Wahiawa, her home, which was 20 miles from Honolulu, was the Broadway of the islands in the post-World War II era. Her older sister attended Julliard Conservatory and a younger sister was a champion tennis player. Her parents had strong ideas about her having a solid education, thus she attended the private college-preparatory Punahou School, graduating in 1948. Of the many sports offered at school, she was most involved with tennis, winning the Hawaiian Junior Championship. After graduation, she attended Philadelphia's Temple University as an international student, earning her bachelor's degree in physical education in 1952. As captain of the tennis team, she was the undefeated Eastern Intercollegiate Singles Championship in 1951 and played singles and doubles on the Junior Wightman Cup team from 1948 to 1952. She played hockey for two years and was on the swim team for three years. Outside of sports, she was a cheerleader, sang in a choir and acted in Maxwell Anderson's "The Wingless Victory." After graduation, she served as referee and tournament director of several amateur tennis tournaments in Philadelphia and for the Federation Cup. She also coached the Junior Wightman Cup team in 1964 and 1965. She was an avid golfer all of her adult life. For her tennis accomplishments, she was inducted into the Temple University Sports Hall of Fame in 1978. After graduation, she held a position, as an exotic and talented beauty, in the Hawaiian Cottage revue, dancing and singing Hawaiian songs with a group as well as performing solos of popular hits. She stated that she met racial prejudices when attempting to break into the world of acting. Later, she co-owned a chain of retail clothing boutiques called Moana's. At one point, she was hosting 200 fashion shows a year. She became the third wife of Pulitzer's Prize recipient, George Abbott on November 21, 1983, after a 24-year long relationship; she was one day short of being 44 years younger than Abbott. They celebrated their birthday together. She had met him through her sister at a dinner party. She sold her business after the marriage to make her home in Miami with her husband. He died in 1988 at the age of 107. She was diagnosed with bladder cancer, dying six months later in her Miami home. The couple's legacy will live on as the Boyer College of Music and Dance at Temple University in Philadelphia dedicated the "George and Joy Abbott Center for Musical Theater." The couple provided a $6 million bequest for funding. Not only are theatrical performances presented at the theater but educational acting seminars. After her husband's death, she donated her husband's professional papers to the college. After her death, a review of her husband's Broadway musicals was presented at the George and Joy Abbott Center for Musical Theater called "By George, It's Joy!"