Joan Ross

Joan Ross, 66 of Wayne, passed away peacefully surrounded with love by her family, on Wednesday, March 16, 2021.

Joan was born in Brooklyn, NY and spent the first four years of life there until her family moved to Wood-Ridge, NJ. She was a graduate of Wood-Ridge High School with the class of 1972. She attended Ramapo College and graduated four years later with a Bachelor’s degree, in pursuit of a career in social work.

During her teenage years, Joan was active in the color guard of the C-W Townsmen Drum and Bugle Corps of Wood-Ridge. In the spring of 1972 Joan and group of friends decided to leave the Townsmen and join the Blessed Sacrament Golden Knights of Union, where she met one of their buglers named Anthony Ross. It was a classic case of mutual love at first sight and soon after, they enjoyed their first official date to the Jersey shore. In time, it became more and more apparent that this love struck couple was destined for a life together. On Saturday, January 22, 1977, one of the coldest days ever on record, Joan and Anthony invited family and friends to witness their wedding vows at the Presbyterian Church in Wood-Ridge. Following a fun-filled reception at The Fiesta in Wood-Ridge, Joan and Anthony headed to Acapulco for their honeymoon. Upon their return, their first home together was in a two family house in Carlstadt. From there they moved to an apartment on Terrace Ave in Lodi and, in 1979, they purchased their first home together in the Pines Lake section of Wayne. The blessings of children followed – first their son Daniel in 1982 followed by their daughter Erin in 1985. In 1986, they moved one more time, across town to the Packanack Lake section of Wayne where Joan remained to the present.

During her younger days Joan’s first job out of college was with the Bergen County Welfare Board where she worked in her chosen field as a social worker. Every day, she set off to work in the pursuit of making life a little better for others. Joan continued to work fulltime until her son Dan was born. While taking time off to care for him and her daughter Erin, Joan took a part-time job as a supervisor for boys and girls who had newspaper delivery routes. Her job was to make sure that the paper-boys and paper-girls had their newspapers to deliver and to also pick up the money that they collected from their customers. When times changed and kids no longer delivered newspapers, Joan started delivering them herself from her car. She eventually shifted gears and took a job as fleet lease coordinator for the Skyline Auto Exchange – an auction where dealers purchased cars at wholesale to sell at their auto dealerships. She loved the work and, over the years developed lasting friendships with many of her colleagues.

Joan was never bored. She had lots of interests to keep her entertained. Aside from being a voracious reader who couldn’t resist a good biography or mystery, many of Joan’s activities involved participation with family and friends. High on her list of experiences were family vacations to Cancun, the Bahamas, Disney World, Niagara Falls, and that once-in-a-lifetime trip to Kenya, where they went on safari and stood on the equator. Joan loved the beach: occasionally enjoying a day at Sandy Hook with her lifelong friend Carol, or the more extensive beach trips to Lido Key in Sarasota Bay, where she also got a jump-start on the Yankee season during Spring Training.

Joan loved nights out to the city either dining in Chinatown or Little Italy, seeing a Broadway show, or seeing her favorite artists, like David Byrne of the Talking Heads, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr, and many others. Joan’s always loved watching and ordering from QVC and surfing for deals on the web. At Christmas time she and her daughter Erin made it a tradition to go shopping to the Union Square Market followed by lunch. She also loved playing games – the ones that could be played on her phone and iPad, like Candy Crush and Farmville, but especially a night of board games with friends and family, like Trivial Pursuit – that game which everyone knew Joan was the undisputed champion.

Joan was simply a pure pleasure to be around. She was truly one of the most positive, friendly, resilient, and kind-hearted persons you could ever imagine knowing. She was a true blessing to her friends, her church family at Grace United Presbyterian Church in Wayne, and her family. Selfless and caring, she was always so happy to have her family together. She had a great knack for getting the most thoughtful gifts and was always thinking about others. Even when she was sick and in the hospital she would ask Erin and Reena “What do you want for your birthday?”  She was known for little things that just made life special, like scratch-off lottery tickets in your Christmas stocking. And Joan’s caring spirit extended beyond family and friends to also include her furry friends. She had a soft spot for the pooches and kitties of this world, so much so that, early in their marriage, she and Anthony regularly fostered dogs from the animal refuge, and all their pets throughout the years were rescued from local shelters. Her two cats, Ninja and Ozzie will also miss her dearly.

Joan was the beloved wife of Anthony, blessed in marriage for 44 years. She was the most loving mother of Daniel and wife Reena Ross of Brooklyn, NY and Erin Ross of Brooklyn, NY; adoring grandmother of Ian Strider Ross; cherished daughter of Mollie Schneider of Pompton Plains; dear sister of Diane and husband Peter Bates of Morristown and John Schneider of Lodi; loving aunt of Alexis and Nicholas Bates; beloved sister-in-law and aunt to her in-laws. She was predeceased by her father James Campbell in 1968 and by her step-father Edward Schneider in 2015.

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In lieu of flowers, those planning an expression of sympathy in Joan’s name are asked to consider making a donation in her name to the Alan Purcell Wayne Animal Shelter of Wayne, NJ, where Joan often made donations and even helped her mother adopt there. Please donate online or mail directly to the Wayne Animal Shelter at 201 Pompton Plains Crossroads (Jackson Ave Extension), Wayne, NJ 07470.