Obituary of Joan L. Lee

Joan Louise Lee, age 69, passed away on September 27, 2017 at St. Barnabas Hospital in Livingston after a valiant battle with brain cancer. Joan was born February 4, 1948 on Staten Island, NY to Louis and Ann (Turley) Baldassano. She graduated from St. Peter’s High School in 1965 and from St. Francis Nursing School in 1968. She married James Lee on Staten Island, March 8, 1970, and after four years in Upland, CA, they moved to South Orange in 1974. Together, they had four children. Giving to others was Joan’s calling in life, first as a cardiac intensive care nurse, then as a wife and mom, and then as a community volunteer and leader. She was Chair of the Columbia High School Scholarship fund for over ten years, only stepping down to focus her energy on fighting cancer. She was also a past president of the PTA and of the South Orange Maplewood Adult School Board. She was named a South Orange “Villager of the Month” in 2014, and in 2015 was honored by the South Orange-Maplewood Community Coalition on Race as a “Celebrating Integration” awardee. Joan lived the core principles of celebrating diversity and promoting inclusion in her daily life and was a tremendous role model for her loved ones. Left to celebrate Joan’s memory and remember her love are her beloved husband, James; her four children, Suzanne Lee, Joanna (Willie) Williams, James (Asha) Lee, and Elizabeth (Tony) Oehler; her 9 grandchildren, Makaela, Jackson, Sophia, Nahla, Josie, Brooks, Asa, Oliver, and Cy; her siblings Regina (James) Coyle, Robert (Cathy) Baldassano, and John Baldassano; and many nieces and nephews. Joan was preceded in death by her parents and her brothers, Lawrence McGuire and James Baldassano. Joan’s visitation will be held on Sunday, October 1, 2017 from 2-6PM at Preston Funeral Home, 153 South Orange Avenue. Relatives and friends are invited to attend the Funeral Mass at Our Lady Of Sorrows Church, 217 Prospect St., South Orange on Monday, October 2nd at 10:30 AM. Interment at Resurrection Cemetery, Staten Island, NY. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation in Joan’s honor to the Columbia High School Scholarship Fund, www.chssf.org.