Joan Dorothy Schnetzer

Joan Schnetzer, loving wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, passed away peacefully at her home in Dunwoody, GA, on September 17, 2026, at the age of 86, with her beloved rescue dog, Molly, by her bedside.

Joan was born Joan Dorothy Conklin in Bound Brook, New Jersey, in 1940 to Walter and Dorothy Conklin. At the University of Delaware, she met her husband, Don Schnetzer, and they were married in 1963. They settled in Delaware and had three children, a son and two daughters. After a brief stint in Pennsylvania, the family moved to Dunwoody, GA, in 1979. Joan and Don shared sixty years of marriage until his passing in May 2023.

She and the family loved summers at their homes in Middlesex Beach, Delaware and considered it their second home. Many holidays were spent there with extended family.

Tennis was both a passion and a way to bring people together. Joan was quite a player for decades and was actively involved in the local tennis community. Not only did she captain countless ALTA and USTA teams at Dunwoody Country Club, she also served as treasurer and president of USTA League Atlanta and founded and ran the Southern Cities Championship, bringing city teams together from across the Southeast.

While vacationing in Bermuda during college, Joan was crowned “Ms. Bermuda,” a story the family loved to tell. She will be lovingly remembered and deeply missed by her family and friends.

Joan is survived by her son, Tom (Debbie); daughters Karen Baker and Jennifer Orlow (Shep); brothers Donald and David Conklin; grandchildren Katie, Ally (Jake), Keith, Adam, Eric, and Sean; great-granddaughter Marie; and countless extended family and friends.

In accordance with her wishes, there will be no funeral service.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests any gifts be made to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation or Great Pyrenees Rescue of Atlanta.