SANFORD – Joan Elliot Garnsey passed away of natural causes on Oct. 2, 2020, surrounded by her family.

She was born in Thomaston, Maine, to Edward and Elma Elliot on Sept. 9, 1929.

While attending Nasson College in Springvale, Maine, she met her husband John Edmund Garnsey. In 1948, they were married in a double ceremony with her sister, Jean Elliot and Wendell Thayer.

Joan and John settled in Sanford, Maine, beginning Garnsey Brothers Insurance and raising their family of three children.

One of the family’s greatest joys was skiing. The entire family began skiing at Bond Mountain in the 1950s. They moved on to Moose Mountain and Pleasant Mountain, settling in at Sugarloaf Mountain where they built a place of their own and their grandchildren learned to ski with Nan and Ice (Joan and John).

In 1977, Joan and her family were very proud to attend the christening of the USS Elliot (DD-967), a Spruance-class destroyer in the United States Navy, which was named in honor of her cousin, Lieutenant Commander Arthur James (Jack) Elliot II, USN of Thomaston, Maine, a naval hero of the Vietnam War. After retirement Joan and John would spend their winters in Estero, Fla., and summers on Lake Winnipesaukee in Wolfeboro, N.H.

Joan will be missed by her three children: Judy Sevigny of Springvale, Maine; Janet Hill of North Conway, N.H.; and Jack Garnsey of Springvale, Maine; nine grandchildren; and 18 great-grandchildren.

There will be no service at the request of Joan.

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