(1934-2023)

For Joan Ann Marconi, an unhappy experience – her parents’ painful divorce – paved the way for something much better in her life: her introduction to the Adrian Dominican Sisters.

Joan was born in Boston on June 23, 1934, to Armand and Irene (Gagliardi) Marconi. It is not known how Armand, a native of Rome, Italy, and Irene met, but they married in Boston in 1931.

Because of complications during her birth, Joan ended up being her parents’ only child. Still, she was surrounded by extended family; she grew up among many uncles and aunts, and Sunday dinners at her maternal grandparents’ house could easily involve some twenty people. In her March 25, 2019, “A Sister’s Story” video, she told the story of how her grandmother fed not only the family but many neighbors as well. It was Joan’s job as a child to take plates of pasta to these neighbors and then, several days later, go around and pick up the plates in preparation for the next Sunday.

She was in about second grade when her parents divorced, and she lived with her maternal grandparents for several years when her mother was offered a job in Miami, Florida. Then, after eighth grade, she moved to Florida to live with her mother. Irene earned a good wage as a bookkeeper, and “life in the sunny South became both exciting and energizing for me,” Sister Joan wrote. “I was also thrilled to be with my Mom."

Read more about Sister Joan (PDF)

 

Memorial gifts may be made to Adrian Dominican Sisters, 1257 East Siena Heights Drive, Adrian, Michigan, 49221. 

Sister's Memorial Card (PDF)

Leave your comments and remembrances. (If you don't see the comment box below, click on the "Read More" link).