Joan Cydalice Henich celebrated life from August 9, 1922 to February 22, 2017. She died after four days of giving the gift to family and friends of the opportunity to hold her hand, and share with her the love and peace that she had wished for them, and the world, with every breath.

Joan was born in New Rochelle, New York to Herman and Virginia Farrington Henich. She attended St. Gabriel’s School in New Rochelle, graduating in 1940. Joan loved going to New York City, “forty-five minutes to Broadway!”

She was a 1944 graduate of Emerson College in Boston, majoring in literary interpretation, drama and speech pathology. Joan taught at the Woods School in Pennsylvania before joining the United States Marine Corps and meeting Rex Gordon Judkins, whom she married in 1946. They had five children, living in Hicksville and Smithtown, New York. Joan worked in the Lawrence Avenue School Library and Stonybrook Book Store and was an active member of St. Philip and James Catholic Church. The family spent summers on her father’s property, Hidden Acres in Hillsdale, New York.

In 1965, after her divorce, Joan moved with her children to South Egremont, Massachusetts in the Berkshires. She enjoyed Tanglewood, Jacob’s Pillow, Jug End Ski Resort, and all the Berkshire theatre companies. She worked as a grade school teacher in Otis, MA, and a remedial reading teacher in Pittsfield, MA.

In 1972, at age 50, she received her Masters of Education from Lowell State (now UMass Lowell), attending simultaneously with her oldest daughter.

When she retired from teaching, Joan moved to Harvard Square in Cambridge, MA. There she became a lay minister in the Catholic Church, met the Dalai Lama in a small group of fifteen people, went to Haiti with St. Boniface, and worked as an aid in the Lincoln Public Schools.

In 1988 Joan moved to Brunswick, Maine to be close to her youngest daughter, where she remained until her death. She was a substitute teacher in Brunswick, a volunteer at the café in Midcoast Hospital, and a member of the Methodist Church. She was inspired by volunteering at Pumpkin Hollow, a theosophical retreat center in Craryville, New York.

Joan is survived by her remaining four children (her youngest son Charles Farrington predeceased her by almost a year) and their spouses, Michaela (and Steve) Lipsey of Troutdale, Oregon; Claire (and Christopher) Farrell of Maynard, Massachusetts; Candace (and Vincent) Ullrich of Brunswick, Maine; Rex (and Linda) Judkins of Phoenix, Arizona; her six grandchildren, Yvonne (and Brian) Kennedy, Robert (and Amy) Ullrich, Rachel (and Aaron Ward) Lipsey, Benjamin (and Camilla Morrison) Lipsey, Kate Rosemary Farrell, Alexandra Judkins and her eight great-grandchildren Kyle, Cole and Chase Ullrich; Ryan, Aidan, Ava and Lena Kennedy; and Leifur Farrington Ward. She also leaves her sister Michaela (and Burton) Lesser and her nephews David, and Burton Lesser and niece Genavieve Sherwood and their families.

Her family would like to express their gratitude to the wonderful staff at Coastal Shores for their care, support and love of both Joan and her extended family during her final months.

A celebration of her life is tentatively scheduled for August 12, 2017 at the Brunswick United Methodist Church with a reception at Coastal Shores in Brunswick, Maine. If you desire, donations in her name should be made to the charity of your choice. Her gift to you is love and peace – please pass it on!