Obituary for Joan B. Henn
Celebrating Joan Bernadette Henn and the rich wonderful life she lived.
Joan was born in Ozone Park, Queens but lived most of her life in Middle Village. Joan was the second oldest of six children born to Felix and Martha Sanner. As a young child the family moved to Middle Village and became parishioners of St. Margaret Church, the children all attending St. Margaret grade school.
Joan attended Bishop McDonnell High School in Brooklyn then completed a program at Grace Institute Secretarial School. She began a career in business and also held a part time position at Lord and Taylor on 5th Avenue in Manhattan, which she loved.
Joan enjoyed the perks of the job, especially shopping on the 9th floor and bought a
box of chocolates for her mother with the weekly paycheck. After starting a family, Joan put aside her business career to raise her family but returned in later years eventually retiring as Office Manager from Catholic Charities in Jamaica.
Joan met Joe at a parish basketball game and this was the start of several years of dating. They were frequent attendees at Madison Square Garden where they enjoyed Ranger games and boxing matches before grabbing a bite to eat.
Joan and Joe were married on October 27, 1951 and soon afterward, started a family.
As the years passed both Joan and Joe became very active within the lives of their children, friends from their church and parish life. Joan, along with three of her friends started the first Chapter of Girl Scouts at their church. In addition to scouting she was also a member of Christian Mothers and Home Bureau, which was a crafting club. She participated yearly with the parish bazaar and Brother Donald’s Cocktail Party for his mission in Tanzania. Joan coordinated the parish Blood Bank for many years and frequently received accolades for record amounts of donations. She was an eager participant in the Relay for Life, an organization that raised funds for cancer research.
In her later years, Joan became active with the St. Martha Guild and frequently used her knitting skills to create baby hats and blankets for premature children at area hospitals.
Joan was a devoted daughter and sister to her family who happened to live just around the corner from us. We grew up seeing our parents love and care for her siblings and parents especially as they got older. Countless meals were prepared and delivered around the corner, errands were frequent, repairs were made, outings and vacations were planned with Grandma and Uncle John included. As their own children grew up and began their own families this loving generosity was extended to our spouses our children and their grandchildren. Mom and dad frequently arrived at our doorsteps, no matter what the time of day, to assist in whatever needed to be done.
Joan was an integral part of our family unit. She was the organizer, the trip planner, a real person of action. She had good ideas for real fun and always would follow through to make the event a real memorable one. Many decades of LBI summer vacations were anticipated by our family and our cousins as we never knew until we got there what kind of beach fun would be planned by Joan and her sister Eileen. Although countless memories were made, those who were present will never forget the time Aunt Joan, who now had become a yoga student, preformed a headstand on the living room floor, just because she could! People were drawn to Joan. She was kind and generous to her family and friends, demonstrated the value of a positive attitude, had a happy smile with a pinch of fun thrown in!
Joan was preceded in death by her husband Joseph.
Joan is survived by her brother Paul Sanner and his wife Kathy.
Loving mother to Kathleen Henn, Maureen (Allen) Crowley, Joseph (Marie) Henn,
Christine (Bart) Sausa. Loving GiGi to Clare, Tim, Meaghan, Colleen, Christopher and Anthony. Loving great grandma to Ellie, Maggie and Mauve.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in memory of Joan to Smile Train.
Joan was born in Ozone Park, Queens but lived most of her life in Middle Village. Joan was the second oldest of six children born to Felix and Martha Sanner. As a young child the family moved to Middle Village and became parishioners of St. Margaret Church, the children all attending St. Margaret grade school.
Joan attended Bishop McDonnell High School in Brooklyn then completed a program at Grace Institute Secretarial School. She began a career in business and also held a part time position at Lord and Taylor on 5th Avenue in Manhattan, which she loved.
Joan enjoyed the perks of the job, especially shopping on the 9th floor and bought a
box of chocolates for her mother with the weekly paycheck. After starting a family, Joan put aside her business career to raise her family but returned in later years eventually retiring as Office Manager from Catholic Charities in Jamaica.
Joan met Joe at a parish basketball game and this was the start of several years of dating. They were frequent attendees at Madison Square Garden where they enjoyed Ranger games and boxing matches before grabbing a bite to eat.
Joan and Joe were married on October 27, 1951 and soon afterward, started a family.
As the years passed both Joan and Joe became very active within the lives of their children, friends from their church and parish life. Joan, along with three of her friends started the first Chapter of Girl Scouts at their church. In addition to scouting she was also a member of Christian Mothers and Home Bureau, which was a crafting club. She participated yearly with the parish bazaar and Brother Donald’s Cocktail Party for his mission in Tanzania. Joan coordinated the parish Blood Bank for many years and frequently received accolades for record amounts of donations. She was an eager participant in the Relay for Life, an organization that raised funds for cancer research.
In her later years, Joan became active with the St. Martha Guild and frequently used her knitting skills to create baby hats and blankets for premature children at area hospitals.
Joan was a devoted daughter and sister to her family who happened to live just around the corner from us. We grew up seeing our parents love and care for her siblings and parents especially as they got older. Countless meals were prepared and delivered around the corner, errands were frequent, repairs were made, outings and vacations were planned with Grandma and Uncle John included. As their own children grew up and began their own families this loving generosity was extended to our spouses our children and their grandchildren. Mom and dad frequently arrived at our doorsteps, no matter what the time of day, to assist in whatever needed to be done.
Joan was an integral part of our family unit. She was the organizer, the trip planner, a real person of action. She had good ideas for real fun and always would follow through to make the event a real memorable one. Many decades of LBI summer vacations were anticipated by our family and our cousins as we never knew until we got there what kind of beach fun would be planned by Joan and her sister Eileen. Although countless memories were made, those who were present will never forget the time Aunt Joan, who now had become a yoga student, preformed a headstand on the living room floor, just because she could! People were drawn to Joan. She was kind and generous to her family and friends, demonstrated the value of a positive attitude, had a happy smile with a pinch of fun thrown in!
Joan was preceded in death by her husband Joseph.
Joan is survived by her brother Paul Sanner and his wife Kathy.
Loving mother to Kathleen Henn, Maureen (Allen) Crowley, Joseph (Marie) Henn,
Christine (Bart) Sausa. Loving GiGi to Clare, Tim, Meaghan, Colleen, Christopher and Anthony. Loving great grandma to Ellie, Maggie and Mauve.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in memory of Joan to Smile Train.