Joan Sanford Greene

Joan Sanford (Huey) Greene passed away September 9, 2025, among family, at her home in Yarmouth, Maine. Over Joan’s 80 years, she was a scientist, skier, transatlantic multihull builder and racer, mooring business operator, and community volunteer, but, most importantly, she was a beloved family member and friend. Joan was quiet but strong. She was kind, generous, uncomplaining and brave.

Growing up with her parents, Robert and Jessie (Sanford) Huey, and younger brother Bob (“Stubby”), in Bristol, Rhode Island, Joan learned to sail early and well thanks to a great Girl Scout summer camp sailing program. Recognizing her natural gifts, Joan was made Admiral in the camp program early on and given responsibility for teaching others to sail while still young herself. Little did family, friends, or even Joan herself, know that this youthful pastime would become the foundation for a long life so well lived.

Joan’s early career followed in the footsteps of her father, Bob, as she enjoyed Chemistry and then pursued a degree in Biology at his alma mater, and that of his father, the University of Vermont. Following graduation in 1966, Joan pursued medical research in Boston at Harvard and Tufts Universities, and graduate studies at Boston University.

Walter was Joan’s life partner and nautical compatriot for almost six decades. The two first encountered each other in college physics and art classes, but bonded skiing, and soon discovered their shared passion for sailing. From their marriage in 1969 until Walter’s passing in 2024, two of the most independent and self-sufficient souls to ever walk the earth operated as a team.

While Joan’s taste tended towards her 1926 Alden schooner, Seaward, she understood and shared Walter’s passion for going fast on cutting edge ocean going multihulls. Walter may have been well known as a transatlantic multihull designer / builder / singlehanded racer, but Joan was no slouch, and she made Walter’s work possible. The first Greene racing multihulls were home built, with Joan doing construction by day and Walter putting in time evenings and weekends. Over the years, Joan made seven transatlantic crossings by sail with one or two people. Joan’s last transatlantic crossing was in 2010, delivering a sloop from Brazil to South Africa with two friends.

Together, Joan and Walter made dreams of sailors come true. Along with Walter’s sister Esther, they built Greene Marine, a mecca for transatlantic multihull sailboat racers, and welcoming home for boatyard enthusiasts. Not only did Joan take in wandering souls at the boatyard, but also many a sailor found respite under the roof of Joan and Walter’s diminutive home for however long was needed.

Joan was also a humanitarian and an environmentalist. She recognized what was important in life: Family and friends, but also others in need, whether walking on two feet, scampering on four, flying, or inhabiting ocean waters. Joan believed firmly in the missions of UNICEF and Doctors Without Borders, as well as local food banks. She believed in and practiced civic responsibility, engaging with the League of Women Voters and serving as a poll worker. She knew the importance of the welfare of common waters and diligently performed Casco Bay water testing for decades.

Joan never, ever, sought attention or adulation, but she was greatly admired by many whose lives she quietly made better. She was smart and adept at foreseeing and preventing problems in the first place. She was not the woman who ran into the burning house. Joan was the one who, in college, prevented the house from burning in the first place by climbing atop the roof with a hose to prevent the fire of the adjacent garage from spreading to it, saving a family’s home.

Joan was the one you wanted with you when your boat was taking on water crossing the Atlantic. Joan was the one you wanted to be married to through a 35 year struggle with Parkinson’s Disease. And Joan was the one who always brought home-made gluten free cookies when you needed them most.

In recent years, Joan and Walter had turned to shorter voyages around Casco Bay with their much loved Cape Dory, Redtail. Finally closing the giant doors of Greene Marine this year, Joan had been looking forward to a next sail from Maine to the Bahamas with a friend.

Joan is survived by her brother Bob, and his wife Barbara; her sister-in-law Esther; her brother-in-law Sandy, and his wife Frances; nieces Kate and Emma, and nephews John, Prescott and Curtis; as well as great nieces and nephew Caroline Jane, Hailee, Casey, Nate, Theodora and Charlotte.

Following her wishes, Joan will be laid to rest privately by family. In lieu of flowers, Joan can be honored by remembrance donations to Good Shepherd Food Bank of Maine (https://www.gsfb.org) or Doctors Without Borders (https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org), or by simply doing a good deed in your community.