Joan A. Spina (Spina)

August 31, 1946 — December 12, 2017

JOAN A. SPINA OBITUARY

Joan A Spina, 71, a resident of Mountainview Drive in Shaftsbury, passed away on Sunday, December 10th in her home following a long illness. She was born in Patterson, NJ on August 31st, 1946. She was the daughter of the late Salvatore A Spina and Florence (Beresford) Spina. She grew up in South Amboy, NJ and graduated from Sayreville War Memorial High School in Sayreville NJ in 1965. Joan completed the Licensed Practical Nursing program at Woodbridge Vocational School in Woodbridge NJ in 1966 and began her nursing career at South Amboy Memorial Hospital in South Amboy, NJ. She then worked at Oakview Nursing Home in NJ for several years before moving with her parents and family to Shaftsbury, VT in 1972. Here in beautiful Vermont Joan enjoyed working at the several area nursing homes before settling in to her favorite position as a nurse in Pediatrics and Maternity/Nursery at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center. There her coworkers will remember her dedication to her young patients, her exceptional nursing skills, hard work, and especially her sense of humor. In 1983 Joan decided to pursue her second love of cooking and opened The Sandwich Garden at Monument Plaza in Bennington, which she owned and operated for 3 years. Following that adventure she returned to nursing at the Vermont Veterans Home until 1997 when she was forced to end her nursing career due to scoliosis and back pain with which she had courageously suffered throughout her life and which stemmed from a childhood case of polio. For the next two years Joan worked at various jobs while caring at home for her elderly parents, until 1999 when she put all of her cheerful energies into the family craft business, Meadowside Country Crafts. Joan sold her beautiful handknitted items, handmade rosaries, marble "mini-gardens", and other crafts with her sister Mary for many years at local farmer's markets, craft fairs and on the internet. Her creativity flowed while designing her own patterns for adorable dog sweaters and colorful inspirational rosaries and saint's chaplets. She called the saints her "Friends in High Places".
A communicant of St John the Baptist Catholic Church in North Bennington, VT, Joan had a great love for Our Lord Jesus and the Blessed Mother and all the saints, all of whom she is certain showered her with many blessings and graces throughout her life and especially during her debilitating illnesses at her life's end.
Joan is survived by her sister, Mary A Spina of Shaftsbury, VT; brother William J Spina and wife Diane of Adams, MA; nephew William Spina of Pittsfield, MA; niece Jennifer Vasolino, her husband Tony and children Emily and Salvatore or Pittsfield, MA; niece Sarah Sayers, her husband Bill and their children Catrina and Nicholas, also of Pittsfield; as well as several cousins living in NJ, DE and NC. Last and by no means least she is survived by her beloved dogs Albert, Pieta and Bella and kitties Victoria and Priscilla.

A Prayer service will be held on Friday, December 15, at the Mahar and Son Funeral Home at 12:15PM followed by a Mass of Christian Death and Burial at St. John the Baptist Church in North Bennington at 1:00PM. Interment will follow in the family lot in St. John's Cemetery.
Friends may call at the Mahar and Son Funeral Home on Thursday, December 14, from 4-7PM.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Bennington Rescue Squad.

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Service Schedule

Past Services

First Visitation

Thursday, December 14, 2017

4:00 - 7:00 pm (Eastern time)

E. P. Mahar and Son Funeral Home

628 Main Street, Bennington, VT 05201

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Service Information

Friday, December 15, 2017

Starts at 1:00 pm (Eastern time)

Saint John the Baptist Catholic Church

, Bennington, VT