Joan Hadland

Joan Hadland (nee Barnett), age 89 of Kinnelon, died peacefully on Saturday, December 31, 2022.

Born and raised in the Kings Highway section of Brooklyn, NY, Joan graduated from the James Madison High School with the class of 1951. Proud to have been among the top students in her class, she graduated as a member of ARISTA, the National Honor Society. Among her classmates, and a fellow ARISTA member, was Ruth Bader Ginsberg.

Shortly after high school, a friend setup Joan on a blind date with Robert Thorne. Bob was in college at the time, home for the Christmas holiday, when they first met. Their romance blossomed and they began to make plans to get married. Bob was about to enter Officer training to become a U.S. Navy pilot and regulations forbid married men from such training. Nothing, not even the U.S. Navy, could stop them from getting married. Bob snuck off the Navy base one weekend, and they married on August 1st, 1953, at a small ceremony in Pascagoula, Mississippi. Somehow, Bob managed to keep that secret from the Navy throughout his training, and he soon earned his Navy wings. Joan was now an ‘officer’s wife,’ and Bob’s Navy assignments found them living in such places as Trinidad, Panama, and Ohio, before settling into their home in Kinnelon, NJ, in 1966. Sadly, in 1968, Bob was killed in a plane crash during Reserve training at the Navy base in Lakehurst, NJ, and Joan found herself widowed, with two children, at just thirty-four years old.

Several years later, she was setup on another blind date, this time with Harry Hadland, an assistant principal of Susan Wagner High School on Staten Island NY and principal of Washington Irving High School in NYC. A widower with four children of his own it was fate that brought the two together. The two fell in love immediately and were married three months later, on January 26, 1975. Their marriage was full of love and dedication to one another, and the two families blended just about as well as any Hallmark movie could have scripted. With Joan’s maternal instincts and Harry's paternal devotion, they were bound by a deep love for each other and their six children and seven grandchildren. After nearly twenty-five years of marriage, Harry passed away in 2000 and Joan was truly devastated, but the love of her large family was strong and she persevered through her grief.

In 2008, she met Andy Sventy of Denville and they went on to enjoy a loving companionship of nearly ten years before Andy died in 2019.

Throughout the years, Joan enjoyed traveling. In addition to having lived in a few foreign countries while Bob was in the Navy, she also visited London, Ireland, much of Europe, Puerto Rico, California several times, Seattle, Vancouver, and many more destinations. She was a bit of a ‘foody,’ and enjoyed eating out wherever she went. Understandably, Ireland was among her least favorite places to visit because, in her opinion, the food there was terrible! She was known to have ordered veal parmigiana in just about every restaurant she visited, even the finest ones, and if it wasn’t on the menu, she would ask the waiter if they could make it for her.

Joan was blessed with a natural beauty, and she was a very attractive woman. She always looked lovely, enjoyed dressing fashionably, with her hair and makeup done just right. Joan’s granddaughter recalls from her law induction ceremony that many of the 20-something year old men in her class commented on how “hot” her grandmother was!

Above all else, Joan adored her family. When grandchildren came onto the scene, she was there caring for them daily. Her grandchildren recall how much she loved music and loved to sing. They all have many fond memories with her to cherish throughout their lifetimes and they will all miss her dearly.

Joan is survived by her two children; Laura Trawinski and her husband Robert of Montville, NJ, and Robert Thorne and his wife Mohini of Edgewater, NJ, by Harry Hadland’s four children; Harry Hadland and his wife Leslie of Houston, Texas, David Hadland of Lexington, Kentucky, Karen Fleming and her husband Bruce of Sebastian, Florida, and Brenda Calderone and her husband Lewis of Brick, NJ, six grandchildren: Kathy Faehner and her husband Kyle of Mountain Lakes, NJ, Robert Trawinski and his fiancé Amanda Feeley of Morristown, NJ, Harrison Hadland and his wife Gina of Houston, Texas, Steven Stavros and his fiancé Raquelle Puglise of Brick, NJ, David Calderone of Brick, NJ and Ava Hadland of Washington, D.C., three great-grandchildren: Brendan, Avery Joan, and Fallon Faehner, all of Mountain Lakes, NJ. Joan was predeceased by her first husband, Robert Thorne (1968), her second husband, Harry Hadland (2000), and by her grandson, Christopher Calderone (2015).