KENNEBUNKPORT – Joanne Loretta Rowe, 77, passed away peacefully in her home at Goose Rocks Beach on Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021. She was born in Pensacola, Fla. on August 28, 1944, the daughter of James Edmund and Laura Mary Bruno Gonzalez. Joanne was the only girl of 9 children, including her triplet brothers, growing up in a three bedroom, one bathroom house in Pensacola.

Joanne graduated from Pensacola Catholic High School in 1962. She entered Sacred Heart School of Nursing, and graduated cum laude in 1965. She became charge nurse on a 40 bed surgical floor, and thereafter, spent two years working for a private cardiovascular surgeon. Deciding to stretch her wings, in 1970 she and a nurse friend drove to San Diego to look for new employment. After submitting resumes to the local hospitals all day, a Navy friend convinced the two exhausted nurses that they had to go to the Marine Corps Recruit Depot (MCRD), the Friday night dance, “where there were 10 guys to every girl”. She met a Marine from Twenty Nine Palms, Calif., Ken Rowe, and they danced the night away. The following day Joanne landed a position in an ICU-CCU open heart surgery unit.

On August 21, 1971 Joanne and Ken were married at St Stephens Church in Pensacola. In 1972, they spent 13 months in East Orange, N.J., with Joanne working as a charge nurse in a nursing home, and Ken obtaining his MBA from Rutgers. In 1973, they moved to Holliston, Mass. where Joanne worked at Framingham Union Hospital as a float nurse. Children Tim, AJ and Amanda arrived in the coming years. Joanne was a happy stay at home Mom until Amanda started kindergarten. She then proceeded to be a substitute school nurse in the Holliston school system for 10 years, before becoming the Medway Middle/High School nurse. She went on to get a BSN from Regis College, and in 2004 a Masters in School Nursing from Cambridge College. Joanne became a nurse coordinator for Medway and retired in 2006.

Joanne was diagnosed with follicular lymphoma in 2011, and daughter Amanda was diagnosed with appendiceal cancer in 2014. Both had continuing chemotherapy treatments, sometimes together, at New England Cancer Specialists. In 2018 Joanne had a CAR T cell transfer, which put the lymphoma in remission. Amanda passed on Sept. 14, 2019. In 2020 Joanne was diagnosed with a second blood cancer which became acute myeloid leukemia. Throughout this long struggle and heartbreak, Joanne always perservered with grace and courage.

In addition to being a loving wife, mother, grandmother and sister, some of Joanne’s (Nonna to her five grandchildren) favorite times were enjoying talent shows put on by her grandchildren, telling jokes and dancing on our neighbor’s deck at GRB, preparing authentic Italian dishes for her family, vacationing with Holliston friends in Florida and Puerto Rico, gift shopping for her grandchildren, and always loving to laugh.

Joanne is survived by her husband of 50 years Ken; sons Timothy and AJ, daughters-in-law Karen and Roxanne, son-in-law Colin Lamb; grandchildren Addy, Evans, Peyton, Nola and Jackson; brothers Frank, Tom, Gene and Dan Gonzalez, sisters-in-law Rona, Kathryn, Sue, and Damaris Gonzalez, Kay Hayes, Susan Bunting, Nancy Rowe, and brothers-in-law Tom Rowe and Bruce Boucher. Joanne is predeceased by her daughter, Amanda Lamb; brothers Paul, James, Michael and Ray, and sister-in-law Paulette Gonzalez.

All are welcome to attend a funeral mass on Saturday, Oct. 23 at 11:00 a.m. at Holy Spirit Parish at St Martha Church, 30 Portland Rd, Kennebunk, followed by interment at Hope Cemetery, Barnard Lane, Kennebunk .

In lieu of flowers,

memorial contributions

can be made to:

Amanda Rowe Lamb ’04 Scholarship Fund

Office of Gift Planning

Bowdoin College

4100 College Station

Brunswick, ME 04011

https://www.bowdoin.edu/alumni-families/give/tribute/amandarowelamb.html



Copy the Story Link