Joan Langton, age 85, of Warwick, passed away on Sunday, September 4, 2022 at the John Scott House in Braintree, MA with her family by her side. She was born on May 28, 1937 in New Rochelle, NY, the daughter of the late Marie & John Fitzgerald. She was predeceased by her beloved husband, Jerome, who she married on August 27, 1966.
She is survived by daughter and son-in-law, Kristen & Anthony Mirra of Boston, brother and sister-in-law, Edmond Langton & Maryanne Langton of North Attleboro.
She graduated from St. Gabriel High School in 1954 and then the same year started at Georgetown University for 2+ years pursuing a nursing degree. She continued her education at NYU and then after changing majors joined Catholic University where she graduated with a Bachelors degree in Speech Pathology in1960. She graduated from the Boston State College with a Masters in Education in 1965.
In 1960 she started her career at Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Memorial Hospital as a Speech Pathologist. From the beginning of her career, her great love of children guided her career steps. In the hospital she worked heavily with children with traumatic brain injury and cerebral palsy.
She started her career in education in 1964 at Newton High School for two years then joined the Cranston School department in 1966 where she was a speech pathologist for 32 years. During her career within the Cranston School Department she worked at several schools including Cranston High School East & West, Western Hills Junior High School & Peters Elementary. It brought her great joy to help the children grow & develop. She tirelessly looked for ways to support the children’s development and was always so proud of all their accomplishments in and outside of school.
In addition, she taught at the University of Rhode Island in 1974 teaching a Graduate course on Cerebral Palsy.
For many years she was an active member of Rhode Island Speech & Hearing Association (RISHA) where for a period she provided some support as the association Secretary.
She loved traveling and at the age of 25 had a great adventure traveling throughout Europe for 3 months where she had the wonderful opportunity to meet & stay with family in Belgium. In addition, she delighted in meeting people of all cultures and backgrounds. During her years in school she became good friends with many exchange students and had the opportunity to stay with some of them while traveling across Europe.
Throughout her life she enjoyed traveling across North America where she and her husband visited 23 baseball parks inclusive of spending time in Cooperstown at the Baseball Hall of Fame. She was an avid gardener and enjoyed traveling to see garden shows. She loved getting together with family and friends and going out in NYC, Boston & Newport.
Mass of Christian Burial on September 9 at 11a.m. at St. Gregory the Great 360 Cowesett Road Warwick. Visiting hours on Thursday, September 8, 4-7 p.m. at Skeffington Funeral Home 925 Chalkstone Avenue Providence, RI.
For online condolences kindly visit: skeffingtonfuneralhome.com
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