Joan P. McNamara

Born January 19, 1928 in Dover, NH Joan was the third child of Ford S. Prince and Alice Fletcher Prince. Joan passed away March 15, 2019 at the age of 91 after a long period of declining health. She married her soul mate Thomas R. McNamara in 1963 and lived in the Concord area for most of her adult life.

After retiring as head of Concord High School media center she moved to their lake house in Loudon, NH and spent winters in Beverly Hills, Florida. The past few years she lived at Havenwood Heritage Heights spending time with friends, singing at church and enjoying grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She took pleasure in untraveled roads, growing vegetables and learning about people, places and various sciences.

Joan was raised in Durham, New Hampshire and attended a mix of local private and public schools including Dover High School and Gould Academy in Bethel, Maine. Joan held college degrees from Modesto (California) Junior College, a BA (Cum Laude) from UNH and an MA from University of Michigan in library science.

After graduate school Joan raised three children and started her career in public education. In 1964 she established the library at NHTI in Concord but spent the bulk of her 35 year career as the librarian and media center director at Concord High School retiring in 1998.

Along with her husband Joan hiked, kayaked, camped and walked beaches all over New England and the east coast of the US. Her best weekends were hiking in the White Mountains one day and walking a beach in Maine the next day.

Joan was a lifelong singer and met her husband (Thomas McNamara) in the choir at the UU church in Concord, NH in 1962. Known for her quiet, reliable alto voice she was an exceptional sight singer and loved all manner of music especially Broadway show tunes.

Joan joined the League of Woman Voters in the late 1950s. She also helped to establish and teach prekindergarten school in the Concord area. For a number of years in the 1960s she taught youth classes at Star Island Conference center. She loved the quiet and solitude of this grand island off the NH coast where she and

Tom continued to attend for week long conferences every summer for many of their retirement years.

She was also a prolific writer producing many short stories, poems and essays about her life, relatives and friends. An active member of the UU church in Concord since 1956 Joan served on many committees from religious education to the memorial garden and, early on, was secretary for the church-wide committee that supervised construction of the current church building on Pleasant Street that was dedicated in 1960.

Joan was predeceased by her husband, Thomas McNamara and her sister, Barbara (Eckman) Lilly.

She leaves three sons, Alan Soule of Tilton, Christopher Soule and his wife, Linda Ashford of Bow and Brian Soule of Penacook. Among other family members Joan leaves 5 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren.

A celebration of her life will be held at the UU church in Concord, NH later this Spring.

In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the UU Church of Concord, NH (https://concorduu.org/) or a charity of your choice.