Joan Nolan

Joan Nolan, age 99, a long-time resident of Wellesley, passed away peacefully in hospice care on December 21, 2024 at Sunrise of Norwood assisted living facility, where she had resided for the past six years. Joan and her siblings were born in Jamestown, New York, and were the children of Dr. Michael E. Nolan and Mrs. Martha Nolan, both deceased.

Joan was a graduate of Sacred Heart High School in Newton, after which she began a fifty-plus year career as a librarian in the City of Newton, and, most particularly, as head of the Newton Highlands branch library, a job that she loved. Joan was a woman with many interests. She was an avid skier, speed skater, and swimmer, and, along with her long-time companion Bob Wilde, since deceased, was an enthusiastic lover of antique cars. Beyond this, she and her beloved twin sister, Nancy, were wholehearted dog lovers, and, even after her retirement as a librarian, Joan was a professional dog walker until her early nineties.

Joan was predeceased by her twin sister, Nancy M. Clancy of Wellesley, her sister Sue Dias of Wellesley, and her brother Dr. Brian E. Nolan of Springfield, Illinois. She is survived by her niece Margaret (Clancy) Lenox and Margaret’s husband Edward Lenox, as well as by other nieces and nephews.

Joan, a life-long Catholic, was a parishioner of St. Paul Church in Wellesley. The funeral services for Joan, at her request, will be private.