Joan L. Moon

Joan Moon died Thursday, the 17th of May at Brookdale Monument Valley Park in Colorado Springs. Joan was born on January 12, 1923 in Hoboken, New Jersey, but grew up in New York City, primarily in the Inwood section at the northern tip of Manhattan. After graduating from Packard Business College in 1942 she obtained employment in the New York offices of American Airlines. Perhaps that would provide a hint of one of her lifelong pursuits.

In July, 1944 she went on a blind date with a newly minted Army Second Lieutenant, Franklin B (Frank) Moon. Just seven dates later, they were married on October 3, 1944 at her home parish of St Helena’s Roman Catholic Church in Bronx, New York. They would welcome their first child in 1948; four more would follow in the next 15 years. Their 26 years of military service together would take them to stateside stations from Texas to Massachusetts and abroad to Germany for six years. In Germany in the late 1940’s, Joan acquired an enduring love of travel, especially foreign travel. And when fortune smiled on a transition from the military life to civilian business in Houston in 1970, they would continue to pursue travel: together, and with close friends, visiting all 50 states, five provinces of Canada, Australia – New Zealand and more than 45 countries in Central America, Europe , Asia, and Africa encompassing nearly 60 years.

Throughout her life, Joan took active leadership roles in charitable causes. Volunteer service remained a priority for her for more than 50 years. Despite never having been a Girl Scout herself, Joan organized and led a troop of local girls during a two- year tour of duty in Galveston, Texas, where she also volunteered at St Mary’s Hospital. She worked with Taping for the Blind for several years, orally transcribing books onto audio-tape with disciplined accent-less clarity. Her Catholic faith was a cornerstone of her life, and once settled in Houston she was to begin a long-term period of service to her church there, St. John Vianney.

After her own diagnosis and surgery for breast cancer in 1979- which she bore with truly exceptional calm, fortitude and even humor – she redirected her life to the American Cancer Society’s Reach-to-Recovery Program, which provides information, counseling, and assistance to post-op breast cancer patients. During the next 25 years – beyond her 80th year of age – she was continuously active in this program in Houston and, later, in Colorado Springs. Her work consisted, in part, of one-on-one at-home visits to well over 1,000 women, bringing them a message of hope, optimism, and adjustment in a world that many felt had collapsed around them. Even into her late 80s, Joan took up new volunteer causes, including service for several years at a food bank affiliated with her church.

Through the years her other interests ranged from birdwatching, to gourmet cooking (leading two different cooking groups), to tennis, to painting in both oil and watercolor, to flower gardening, all the while keeping gracious and merry company with friends new and old.

Spending time with her grown children and their spouses and with her eight grandchildren was a high priority for her, and she organized annual weeklong summer stays at beaches on Galveston Island and family reunions at Colorado Resorts. Her grandchildren remember her boundless and unconditional love, the hugs, the big smiles and the laughter.

Joan was a very social person and was truly and infectiously mirthful, with an easy, ringing laugh. Her natural aptitude for engaging complete strangers in meaningful conversation was unparalleled, enabling her to make new friends easily and widely. A six-year old granddaughter once observed that "Grandma talks to everybody." She greatly enjoyed entertaining both at home and at social events and she nurtured and kept those friendships alive across the decades and the miles.

She is preceded in death by her parents Mary Delia Brennan of County Galway, Ireland

and Bernhardt A. Heyer of Sacramento, California, and by grandson Kevin Hylton and

son-in law Christopher Hylton. She is survived by her husband of 73 years, Frank, five

children: Diana Hylton, Kathleen Moon (Rocco DeMaio), Frank (Ellen Ryba), David

(Margaret), and Maureen Lomenick (Art). She is also survived by seven grandchildren:

Christopher (Stacy) and Peter van Benthuysen (Lindsay), Leslie Hylton, Sean (Abby) and

Michael Moon, Brennan Patton and Lauren Patton Burns (Jeff).

In the more than 90 years of her life of dedication to family and service, Joan was a loyal,

loving and caring wife, mother, and grandmother. She made many, many lasting

friendships, helped hundreds of her fellow human beings, practiced her Catholicism

faithfully, raised a wonderful family, overcame deeply painful challenges of her own, and

saw so much of the world. From humble beginnings in Hoboken and Manhattan, Joan traveled much, much farther than the miles she covered. And most importantly, she made a difference in the lives she

touched.

In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made in her name to any chapter of The

American Cancer Society. The Swan-Law Funeral Home in Colorado Springs has been

entrusted with arrangements. There will be a viewing at the funeral home at 501 North

Cascade Avenue between 6pm and 8pm on May 25th. A funeral

Mass will be held at Corpus Christi Catholic Church, 2318 North Cascade Avenue in

Colorado Springs at 10am on May 26th, with a reception immediately following in the Parish Hall.