Joan Marie Block was born in New York City to Tom and Joan Ahern in May 1936. She had a colorful heritage. Her father was a claims examiner for New York Life Insurance Company. Her grandfather was the chauffeur for Woodrow Wilson when he was Governor of New Jersey, and her grandmother's brother was the famous Irish gangster, Patsy Doyle. Joan's other grandmother was the daughter of a Prussian opera singer who moved to New York and then sang for the New York Metropolitan Opera. Her other grandfather immigrated to New York from Paris with his mother and father, a marble cutter for mausoleums.

When Joan was six, her brother, Paul, was born. When she was 14, they moved to Bergenfield, New Jersey. Joan grew up loving music. She took tap dancing lessons and became a dance teacher at 14. One of her students was Ellen Travolta. Her picture appeared in an ad for the dance school in Seventeen Magazine in the early 1950s. She performed with other children on a TV program once. She was voted "Best Dancer" in high school. Later, she tapped off Broadway and sang in nightclubs with a band.

Joan met her husband, Bob, through her friend Mary Block. Bob's motorcycle and blue eyes caught Joan's attention at first, but he also turned out to be a good dancer and a nice guy. They married in 1959 and she had three darling babies in three years: Laurie Ann, Chris, and Kevin. Joan loved being a mother, and her children meant the world to her. In Old Tappan, New Jersey, they raised horses, showed them in horse shows, they ran the New Jersey Pinto Association, and even started a 4-H club for local kids. In 1965, Joan began to study the Bible with her mother, who had become one of Jehovah's Witnesses. Joan was baptized in 1968.

In 1971, Joan suggested they move to Wisconsin and become cowboys. They moved to Norwalk, Wisconsin, to a 160-acre beef cattle ranch. The whole family worked hard. Joan always supported her kids, going to school sports events and theater performances. She sang and played her ukulele, tambourine, spoons, maracas, and guitar at hootenannies and did jam sessions with Kevin and Laurie Ann and their friends. Joan also found time to start Bible studies with some of the neighbors in Wisconsin and friends from back home in New Jersey. It brought her such joy to teach others about Jehovah God.

In 1984, Joan decided it was time to say, "California here we come!" Joan and Bob settled in Salinas, where Joan started a daycare. She always loved taking care of children. She had a talent for reading books and doing funny character voices. Joan grew happier with each new grandchild and wanted to spend as much time as possible with them: Tabetha, Tiffany, Rannel, Ryan, Courtney, Riley, and Josh and later, great grandchildren: Hannah, Logan, Emma, and Abigail. Joan was thrilled to see and hold her youngest grandchildren, Brixton and Amethyst in the last few years. Joan was also able to see her newest great grandbaby, Malachi, born in 2025.

Joan always kept singing and dancing at every opportunity. She even took an adult tap class and danced in a show at the Salinas Fox Theater when she was 67! In her later years, Joan still enjoyed going to plays with her daughter, watching musicals with her grandchildren, and sitting outside to appreciate nature. She lost Bob in 2023, after almost 65 years of marriage. Joan was so happy and appreciative to live with family when she needed care, first Tabetha and her girls, then with Laurie Ann. She died peacefully in bed, with her daughter and granddaughter by her side, surrounded by pictures of her family. She is asleep until Jehovah awakens her in paradise. We will miss her until then!

Memorial services will be at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses, 3319 Abdy Way, Marina, California, on Saturday, May 16th, 2026, at 5:00pm in person and on zoom.