Obituary of Joan R. Porter

Joan Frances Porter Of Nichols, New York Joan Frances Porter, was born on July 16, 1930, in Newark, NJ. That same day it was so hot that the front page of the local newspaper ran a photo of an egg frying on the sidewalk. She grew up in New Jersey, the oldest among her sisters, Ginger and Barbara, and her younger brother Charles. She spent her adult life with her loving husband William (married September 29, 1951), who left this world five years ahead of her. She passed away the evening of June 28, 2022, in Waverly, NY. She is survived by her younger brother Charles (Janet), her three daughters Amy Schacht (Glenn), Ellen Amato (Michael), and Lauren Porter, and five grandchildren. She raised three daughters with William in the town of Colts Neck, NJ. They bought an old apple barn on Richdale Road by the reservoir and restored it into a house. It was on the Historical Society of Monmouth County tour of historic homes. Twice. They were resourceful, like many who grew up during the Great Depression. In the early days at the Apple House, William built her a greenhouse out of old windows, and she filled it with geraniums because they were inexpensive to germinate, and because she liked them. They summered in Maine, first in a large country house with a barn for horses, then in a smaller cabin along a brook once the children were grown. Joan loved the sound of the babbling brook, and would often sleep outside in the screened-in porch so it could lull her to sleep. They wintered in the Florida Keys, where Joan gathered sea shells and sea glass from the beach. In the twilight of the twentieth century they moved to a farmhouse in Nichols, NY. Her gardens grew beautiful flowers, watered with her collection of unusually shaped antique watering cans. She grew more geraniums. A kind, patient woman named Brenda helped them spend extra years in that house. She had a keen eye for detail and style. She restored antiques, refinishing what William repaired. She sold them and filled her home with them. She loved colonial American and 19th century furniture, tools, and history. She disliked anything made of plastic. She was an expert quilter. Her children and grandchildren all have quilts stitched by hand in front of a fire. She ran a book bindery for a decade, and was a master of découpage. She baked beautiful, delicious cakes. She kept tasteful chocolate candies on hand for guests. She played Hide The Thimble with her grandchildren, giving clues of "warmer" or "colder" until the seeker was "burning up!" or "on fire!" She was quick witted. Once, when her daughters were all young enough to be at the pool with her, she saved a boy's life with mouth to mouth resuscitation. She also saved his mother, who had jumped in after her son even though she couldn't swim. She was a champion of women's rights and equality. She took her daughters to hear Bella Abzug speak at Brookdale College, and to a candlelight vigil for Martin Luther King, Jr. She always asked politicians where they stood on abortion. She resented the patriarchy. She lives on in the lives of her children and grandchildren. Family is being assisted by the Estey, Munroe & Fahey Funeral Home. Condolences may be made to Joan's family at www.emfaheyfuneralhome.com