Joan Caropreso

Joan Caropreso, age 73 of Wayne, passed away on Thursday, March 19, 2020.

Joan was born in Paterson and raised in Wayne where she had been a lifelong resident. In fact, she was actually still living in the home of her childhood at the time of her passing. She was the oldest of William and Natalina Falato’s three children and was a graduate of Wayne High School with the Class of 1964.

After high school, Joan worked as a legal secretary. She was introduced by her cousin to a young man from Brooklyn, NY named Ugo Caropreso. They married on Saturday, August 21, 1965 at the Holy Cross Church in Wayne and, after honeymooning in New York City, they moved into the same house in Wayne that Joan had lived her whole life.

Over the course of the next few years after marriage, Joan and Ugo were blessed by God with three dear children – Vincent, Kathy and Linda, and Joan settled into the noble and very important role of mother and homemaker.

Joan was the best mom a kid could ever hope to have. She truly loved and adored her children and she poured every ounce of her being into their well-being. When they were little, she’d get right into it, jump-roping, playing jacks, and coloring with them, and she even painted a permanent hopscotch court on the sidewalk on the side of the house so they could play all the time. When her kids got into the school years, Joan served regularly as a class mom, library assistant at Ryerson School and even for a time as PTO president. She was always willing to help in whatever capacity needed and, being an excellent seamstress, she did a lot of sewing for the schools theater productions and baked a lot of cookies for school fundraisers.  

Once her son and daughters gained a bit more independence, Joan returned to school herself, attending the Ridgewood School of Art in pursuit of education in her lifelong passion of graphic arts. Her first position was becoming the art director for Museum Magazine in New York City. She later worked as graphic artist for Doremus Incorporated and Sorg Incorporated in the field of court litigation and got involved in cases involving Enron, Hallmark and Tavern on the Green. In later years Joan freelanced as a graphic artist for several local attorneys, splitting her time between working for them and helping to care for her adored grandchildren.

To Joan, the love and nurture of strong family ties was a cornerstone of life. She cherished family time and her seven grandchildren – Dominic, Joseph, Anthony, Shauna, Patrick, Alexandra, and Anthony brought her so much joy! Joan gladly warmed the seats and bleachers of many-a school to be present for all their activities including school performances, cheering competitions, baseball, bowling, football games, wrestling matches, and band competitions and concerts. Just like she did for her own children, for her grandchildren, she continued volunteering as a library assistant at Wayne’s Ryerson School and she enjoyed sewing them nice clothing and fun Halloween costumes.

In her spare time, Joan enjoyed reading, especially about politics and combining her love of cooking by reading interesting cook books. She loved tending to the beautiful gardens in her yard, listening to the music of favorites including Andrea Bocelli and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, and playing games – anything except checkers!

Joan was a life-long parishioner of Holy Cross Church in Wayne. Her faith in God was another one of the cornerstone pillars of her life which so-much guided the way she lived and loved those around her. Like the God she loved and served, Joan was the epitome of unconditional love. With not a mean bone in her body, she was a delight to be around – typically bubbly, funny, smart, and stylish.  

Joan was the loving mother of the late Vincent Caropreso (2017) and wife Maureen of Pompton Plains, Katherine and husband Thomas Siso of Wayne, and Linda and husband Michael Paese of Totowa; cherished grandmother of: Dominic and Joseph Caropreso, and the late Anthony Caropreso (2003), Shauna and Patrick Siso, and Alexandra and Anthony Paese: and dear sister of Katherine Falato and Anne Bieber, both of Wayne.

MEMORIAL CONTRIBUTION INFORMATION:

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations in Joan’s name would be appreciated to one of the following charitable organizations:

Wayne Township Memorial First Aid Squad

PO Box 2004

Wayne, NJ 07474

Wayne POL Fire Co. 2

970 Route 23

Wayne, NJ 07470