Montville – Residents heading to Town Hall next month to pay their taxes may notice a familiar face missing.

Longtime tax collector Joan Zujus passed away May 15 at the age of 77 following a brief illness. She is remembered by town staff and her family for her work ethic and zealous commitment to her job.

Former Mayor Russ Beetham, who hired Zujus for the tax collector position in the mid-'80s, said he hired her for her accuracy and efficiency. She maintained a tax collection rate of at least 98 percent over the past seven years, according to Finance Director Terry Hart.

Beetham said Zujus was never a dollar over in her counting of taxes, even back when more residents paid in cash and the tax collector's office staff had to count payments using calculators.

"She was so, so dedicated," he said.

Ellen Horne, who has held the position of assistant tax collector since 1979, said Zujus kept to herself and was very focused on work. Yet Horne described a special intimacy the two developed over the decades, mentioning that customers often mistook the two women for sisters.

She remembered that Zujus loved cows, that people coming in to pay their taxes would sometimes bring with them little cow figurines to give Zujus.

Zujus and Horne used to tease each other, "gotta walk out together," Horne said. But that didn't happen, she added quietly. She said she wished she could have seen Zujus enjoy retirement, not that Zujus had plans to retire – "not hardly."

"Nobody wants to see somebody leave a job like that," Horne said of the unexpected loss of her friend and colleague.

Even from her hospital bed after her last day at the office in March, Zujus spoke of returning to work, according to her husband of 59 years, Raymond Zujus.

"It meant to her that she was important to the town, that she was an important person. She had a responsible position. She loved the job. She went to work even when she didn't feel like it," he said.

His wife first started working with the town part time in 1980. She started her career after the couple's five children were grown, just as his career in the U.S. Navy was winding down.

A few years into her time working part time in another department, the tax collector position opened up. Raymond said the position was the perfect fit for Zujus, who had enjoyed financial and administrative work since he met her at the lumberyard where the two worked in high school in Kearney, N.J.

There at that after-school job, Zujus worked as an administrative assistant and her future husband – a recent immigrant from Lithuania – as a gofer, working with customers and taking stock of merchandise.

"Everybody loved her, I loved her," said Raymond. "I loved her. It was really hard for me to accept the fact that she's no longer with us."

Leadership roles were natural for Zujus, according to her son, Paul. He recalled fellow Navy wives calling his mother day and night for help navigating their lives in the absence of their husbands who were on duty, while Zujus herself faced the same challenges.

Hart said the town was working on tweaking the description for the job and would soon post the opening. In the meantime, other town staff and Franklin Tax Collector Melissa McGuire are working together to cover the work Zujus would have gladly done.

t.townsend@theday.com

Twitter: @ConnecticuTess