Dr. Joan M. Hughes, 59
Died Sunday, October 14 at her home in Port Jefferson, NY with her husband at her side.
She leaves behind her loving husband, Dr. Jonathan T. Hughes. Also surviving are sisters; Judith M. Mason and Janet R. Mottola of Bluffton, SC and Elizabeth Banks of Tampa FL, sister-in-law Randon Lee Hughes (Luetgens), of Vista, Ca and Janet Hughes (James Maloney) of Mattituck, NY
Joan was the Aunt to several nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents Joseph and Muriel Cormack Mottola, her sister Carolyn Meeker, and her brother Joseph A. Mottola, Jr.
Born in Mount Vernon, NY and raised in Pembroke, MA, Joan graduated from Silver Lake Regional High School in Kingston, MA. She was elected to “Girls State” Hall of Fame and she played field hockey and tennis.
Joan went to Gordon College in Wenham, MA where she majored in British Literature. At the age of 19, she spent a summer as a missionary at an orphanage in Haiti. She graduated from Gordon College in 1974 and became an English teacher at Georgetown Middle School in Georgetown, MA where she taught for 12 years and became active in the local teacher’s union. She earned her Masters Degree in Education at Lesley College and, in 1979, she completed her degree in Labor Relations and Collective Bargaining at Harvard University.
In 1985, the CEA hired Joan as a Uniserve representative for the Connecticut Education Association, negotiating contracts and standing up for teachers rights in several Western, CT school districts. In 2002, Joan earned her Ed.D doctoral degree in Educational Administration at Teachers College, Columbia University.
An avid animal lover, Joan leaves behind her rescued pet dog Willy Nelson Hughes and her pet cats Smokey Robinson Hughes and Buddy Holly Hughes.
A Visitation and service for Joan will be held on Friday, October 19 from 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm at The Bryant Funeral Home in East Setauket, NY
Gifts and donations may be made in Joan’s memory to Save-A-Pet, 608 Rt 112, Port Jefferson, NY 11776 or The Hughes-Mottola Doctoral Scholarship Program at St. John’s University, 8000 Utopia Parkway, Queens, NY 11439
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