Joan Marie Harrison Herbert

New Orleans lost one of its brightest and most unforgettable spirits on July 23, 2025, when Joan Marie Harrison Herbert passed away peacefully at the age of 95, surrounded by family and the love she spent a lifetime cultivating, in the very city where her remarkable story began. Hers was a life rooted in faith and defined by the warmth of family. She was a devoted mother of eight, a devout Catholic, and she lit up every room—and every life—she entered with her keen intellect and vibrant wit that shaped generations.

Born on June 4, 1930, to William Henry Harrison and Loreto Mary “Jack” Kigin Harrison, she grew up with a sharp mind and an independent spirit—qualities she would embody with grace throughout her life. She graduated from Eleanor McMain Junior-Senior High School in 1947 and studied first at Fontbonne University in St. Louis before returning home to earn her Bachelor of Science in Medical Technology from Loyola University New Orleans in 1952.

While at Loyola, she met the love of her life and future husband, Stephen Joseph Herbert, made lifelong friends in students and faculty alike, and left her mark as President of the Med-Tech Club and an active member of Beta Epsilon Upsilon (distinguishing honor students in medical technology), the Alpha Chapter of Theta Beta (National Biology Honor Society), and Our Lady of Fatima Sodality. She was also named to Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities.

She married the now Dr. Stephen J. Herbert on August 22, 1953, sharing 62 glorious years of partnership built on shared values and infectious joy. Their marriage was truly a blessed union of love, friendship, and affection—a bond that remained vividly alive until Steve’s passing in 2016.

Together, they began a lifelong adventure raising a large and lively family while following his U.S. Navy medical service career, taking them from the leprosy hospital in Carville, Louisiana, to the steep hills of San Francisco, California, to the Gulf breezes of Galveston, Texas, expanding their numbers in each city before returning home for good. They settled first in Harahan, then in River Ridge, building not just a house but a haven for their family where they welcomed everyone into their orbit with generosity and open arms. Joan navigated the joyful chaos of a household filled with daughters, sons, cousins, friends, pets, and strangers who quickly became family.

With Steve, she shared her wisdom by leading pre-Cana marriage preparation at St. Rita Catholic Church, anchoring their faith in community and service, and was an active parishioner at St. Matthew the Apostle Catholic Church. A gifted knitter, crocheter, cross-stitcher, sewist, and painter, she taught weekly craft classes through the U.S. Public Health Service Officers’ Wives Club, in which she was passionately active.

She counted many Jesuit priests and missionaries among her closest friends—kindred spirits of learning, humor, and service—and found in their work a reflection of her own values of humility, hospitality, and devotion.

She was especially close to the Virgin Mary, and gave each of her daughters a variation of Mary in their names as a quiet, beautiful echo of her love and reverence.

An energetic mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, Joan had a remarkable zest for life. She was a magnetic hostess who extended hospitality not as a duty, but as an art form. She believed that there was always room for one more at the table and she welcomed all with delicious food, raucous laughter, and boundless warmth.

But Joan was never just one thing. She was equally scientific, literary, and spiritual; a nurturer and a rebel; vivacious and brilliant; her dimensions open-hearted and ever-expanding, without contradiction. A runner, cyclist, avid camper, birdwatcher, road tripper, sports fan, and gourmet cook, she created unforgettable memories for her children and grandchildren across the country.

She loved Dixieland jazz, crossword puzzles, purple martins, opera, gardening, reading anything she could get her hands on, and a good martini with olives. She raised her family to be brave and kind, to love and laugh heartily, and to show up for each other and for the world.

Joan was elegant, hilarious, fierce, and always utterly herself.

She delighted in a well-crafted epitaph and spoke about death with the same mix of clarity, humor, and faith that she brought to everything. She welcomed it not with fear, but with steady peace, hope, and the unshakable anticipation of reuniting with Steve to enjoy together the eternal light of God’s love. She would want us to celebrate her passing rather than mourn it.

She is preceded in death by her beloved husband, Dr. Stephen Herbert; parents, William and Loreto Harrison; brothers, William Harrison, Jr., Michael Harrison, and Patrick Harrison; granddaughter, Étienne Herbert; great-granddaughter, Zinnia Wild-Grace; and son-in-law, Edward Green.

She is survived by her sister, Susan Harrison Blackstock; her 8 children: Stephen Herbert Jr. (Maria), Clare Herbert-Green, Paul Herbert, John Herbert (Marisa), Gregory Herbert, Marian Herbert-Bruno (Manny), Lawrence Herbert (Jan), Gerald Herbert (Lucy); 16 grandchildren: Laurie Herbert Constantinou, Andrée Herbert, Audry Wild, Adrianne Herbert, Kyle Herbert, Julia Herbert, William Green, Tracey Jenkins (Timothy), Gregory Herbert, Jr., Elyse Chamorro (Renato), Hayley Grimaldo (Miguel), Stephen “Mac” Herbert III, Michael James (Lauren), Selena Bruno, Ardis Sikes, Avery Sikes; 11 great-grandchildren: Charlotte Barron, Hunter Leach, McKenzie Jenkins, Cheyenne Jenkins, Birch Wild, Alexandre Constantinou, Braya Parquet, Zinnia Wild II, Amari Parquet, Lorenzo Chamorro, Vance James, and many cherished nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends.

Joan made the ordinary feel holy and the holy feel human. She will be missed beyond measure and she will never, ever be forgotten.

Hers was a life lived in color, one of radiant devotion to God, family, fun, humor, beauty, and service. She left this world as she lived in it, full of charm, intelligence, and a clever twinkle in her eye. Her legacy is etched in the wide circle of lives she shaped, the stories we’ll never stop telling, the meals we gather around, and the love that remains.

And now she rests, beautifully, in the arms of eternity.

Relatives and friends are invited to gather to celebrate Joan’s extraordinary life on Friday, August 1, 2025, at Lake Lawn Metairie Funeral Home, 5100 Pontchartrain Blvd. in New Orleans with a visitation beginning at 11:00AM and a funeral Mass in the Lake Lawn Chapel at 1:00PM. Interment will follow the Mass in Metairie Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Jesuit missions or Catholic charities close to your heart, or simply extended to someone who needs to be welcomed, fed, or embraced. Offer a prayer to Mary if you feel so moved—she’d like that. In her honor, pour a martini, read some Keats, hum a little Blue Lu & Danny Barker, toast to a life well lived, and laugh loudly and often.