Joan Elise Martin

August 23, 2019

Joan E. Martin, 94, of West Hartford, Connecticut, passed away peacefully on Friday, August 23, 2019. Joan was born in Windsor, England, on March 28, 1925, to Constance and John Hayter, the manager of a series of hotels in England, including for many years the Blossoms Hotel in Chester. She married John Martin in 1952. “Jack” Martin, who was born in New Jersey, was a construction engineer for the Lummus Company, which built oil refineries around the world, and he, Joan and family lived in the U.S., India, Belgium, Yugoslavia, England and Ireland. After Jack died in 1963, Joan emigrated from Chester, England, to West Hartford and raised her three children on her own. She worked initially at the Colossus Travel Agency in Hartford and then for many years at AAA in West Hartford. Joan graduated from the Queen’s School in Chester, England, and later secretarial college in Liverpool. She had a love of languages and spoke German and French fluently. She loved classical music, particularly Beethoven, Mozart and Haydn, and took piano lessons at the West Hartford School of Music for many years. She had a great interest in travel and went on many trips throughout the world with her family and friends. She also loved reading novels and poetry and could recite many of the poems she had learned by heart at the Queen’s School, including ones by Keats, Tennyson and Thomas Hood. Joan herself had a way with words, and her English expressions, her warmth and sense of humor brought a smile to all who knew her. She was devoted to her children and grandchildren and was a sincere and loyal friend. She always told her children, “The whole thing is, are you happy in yourself?” Joan will be remembered most of all for her generous spirit and her loving kindness, which, along with her faith in God, were central in everything she did in life. She is survived by her son, Michael Martin, and wife, Eileen, of Coto de Caza, CA, daughter Brooke Martin and husband, Bill Nagler, of Farmington, CT, and daughter Anne Beadle of West Hartford, CT; granddaughters Alicia Beadle and Ashley Martin and grandson, Keith Beadle; nieces Olivia Anna Hayter and Sarah Hayter of Canada; and extended family members Carol and Dan Bratton of Elora, Canada. Calling hours are Friday, August 30, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Molloy Funeral Home, 906 Farmington Ave., West Hartford. The funeral Mass is Saturday, August 31, at 10 a.m. at St. Peter Claver Church, 47 Pleasant St., West Hartford. Online expressions of sympathy may be made at www.molloyfuneralhome.com