Obituary of Joan Redding Pease

Pease – Joan Phillips, 90, on January 19, 2015, in Denville, NJ. Joan Phillips Pease, the beloved mother of Martha Redding Pease Bardin of Madison, CT and Robert William Pease Jr., of Ridgewood, NJ, died in Denville, NJ on mid-January, 2015. She was 90 and died of a long illness. Born in 1924 in McKees Rocks, PA, Joan graduated from Oberlin College in 1946 with a degree in Art History and went on to teach hundreds of school children how to connect with the joy of experiencing and creating art. Joan's appreciation of art, music and design came from her father, John H. Phillips, a prominent architect of schools in and around Pittsburgh, PA, and her mother, Agnes Redding Phillips, an accomplished singer and musician. Between college and her teaching career, Joan moved to Greenwich Village in New York City. She served as executive assistant to Zelina Brunschwig, the President of textile firm Brunschwig & Fils in New York City and, in 1949, became the first female production manager for Parents Magazine. In 1953, Joan moved with her husband Robert W. Pease to Upper Montclair, NJ, where they raised their two children. In New Jersey, Joan worked in public relations with many non-profit organizations, including Planned Parenthood and Caldwell College, and was an active member of Union Congregational Church in Upper Montclair and the Women's Club of Montclair. A lover of nature and wildlife, Joan took every opportunity to spend time outdoors: as a child at her parent's farm along the cliffs of Lake Erie; at her own family's summer camp on Indian Lake in the Adirondack Mountains of New York State and in the mountains of Vermont where she retired in 1987. Known for her keen intelligence, empathy, and a quick, insightful wit, Joan left a lively and lasting impression on virtually everyone who spent time with her. In addition to leaving behind her children Robert and Martha, Joan was a loving sister to Mary Agnes (Bebe) Phillips Davies, an admired mother in law to Christian Bardin, and an adored grandmother to her two grand-children, Julian Frederick Pease Bardin and Nicholas Charles Pease Bardin.