JoAnne Hanlon

Mrs. JoAnne Hanlon, née Doyle, passed away on April 16, 2022 in Annapolis, MD. She was born in Newburg, New York in 1936. The first of two children born to Charles and Ruth Doyle, JoAnne grew up in Orange County, New York alongside her younger brother Charles. Her father, the elder “Charlie,” was a veteran of the First World War and the assistant warden of Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, New York.

Following her childhood years, JoAnne attended the College of New Rochelle, graduating in 1957 with a degree in History. She then moved to New York City and became one of the earliest women in her generation to go to work in the publishing industry. In 1958, she met Lieutenant Kevin Hanlon, USNA Class of 1948 and the former Executive Officer aboard the X-1, the Navy’s first experimental midget submarine. Kevin was stationed in New York City as an NROTC instructor at Columbia University. They first met on board a New York City Circle Line cruise. They were married six weeks later and immediately moved to Hawaii, where Kevin began the first of many voyages that would span both his Naval career and their marriage of fifty-nine years. JoAnne’s brother Charles, an NROTC midshipmen at Columbia at the time of the wedding, would later recall with some fondness the “gift” he received in connection with JoAnne’s nuptials: A passing grade in basic navigation.

JoAnne’s marriage to Kevin took her twice to Hawaii as well as California, Virginia, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Long Island, New York. Along the way, she raised five children, born between 1959 and 1978. While caring for her growing family, JoAnne obtained a graduate degree in History from Stony Brook University. She would retain a great love of history for the rest of her life, not allowing friends, children, and grandchildren alike to leave the house without at least one well-worn volume from her ample book collection.

In 1988, JoAnne retired with her husband to Annapolis, Maryland. Four generations of the family – including their two sons – graduated from the United States Naval Academy. A lifelong, faithful Catholic, she was an active Member of St. Mary’s Parish in Annapolis, a longtime Eucharistic Minister in local nursing homes and prisons, a volunteer for Birthright, and a twenty-three-year participant in perpetual adoration. JoAnne was also a member of Ranger Rosary, which distributes rosaries to American service-members going into harm’s way.

Additionally, she taught for many years in Annapolis public schools as a long-term substitute teacher. Dogs, and especially terriers, were a perennial love and hobby of JoAnne’s, as were gardening, knitting, playing and teaching bridge, and bringing laughter to the lives of her many friends and neighbors in Annapolis.

JoAnne was predeceased by her husband, Kevin, in 2016 and her brother, Charles, in 2017. She is survived by five children: Katharine Golden of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware; Mary La Jeunesse of Ridgefield, Connecticut; CAPT Peter Hanlon, USN (Ret) (USNA 1985) of McLean, Virginia; Anne Marie Bartholet of Stonington, Connecticut; and CDR James Hanlon, USN (USNA 2001) of Vienna, Virginia, currently stationed at the Washington Navy Yard; as well as seventeen grandchildren.

Friends and family may call at the John M. Taylor Funeral Home, Inc. 147 Duke of Gloucester Street, Annapolis, MD 21401 on Thursday, May 12, 2022 from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 PM. A Memorial Mass will be held on Friday, May 13, 2022 at 10:30 in Saint John Neumann Catholic Church 620 N. Bestgate Road Annapolis, MD 21401. Inurnment will be on July 28, 2022 at 10:30 am in the United States Naval Academy Columbarium.

In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to Ranger Rosary at St. Mary’s Church Annapolis or Navy/USMC Relief.