Joan McCormack Fleck, 94, was reunited with her beloved husband, William Donald, “Don” Fleck in their heavenly home, on June 8, 2021 after a courageous battle with a recent illness. Her devotion to her family and her firm belief in God supported her in this struggle and ultimately gave her peace.
Joan was born to the late Christopher McCormack and Mary Daly, an entrepreneur and a homemaker respectively, in Park Slope, Brooklyn on September 12, 1926. Joan was the youngest of eight children. She spent her life immersed in the St Aidan’s, St Agnes, St Ignatius and St Gregory’s parish communities that were her lifelong support and allowed her to pursue her passion for serving God and others. Joan and her late husband, Don, were particularly active in St. Aidan’s where Don was a Lector and instructor in Confraternity and Joan was a Eucharistic Minister for twenty-seven years and provided Religious Instruction for twenty years.
Joan was blessed with a devoted, kind husband and life partner and a large and loving family. Joan and Don raised their seven children with patience, humility and a love of God.
Joan made it her mission to find activities for her children which provided experiences and opportunities for development and growth as people, whether it be involvement in athletics, Girl and Boy Scouts or religious groups.
Joan was extremely focused in guiding her children to strive for the highest level of education possible. Joan was not only concerned with her own family’s education, but for the education of the children of the entire community. To that end, Joan was very active in the Parent Teachers Associations which culminated in her election to the East Williston School Board, where she served for seventeen years.
Joan’s love of East Williston was immense, and this led her to spend several years as a member of the East Williston Historic Committee. Joan was also socially involved with her community and enjoyed going to East Williston Seniors gatherings.
Joan not only loved East Williston, but also had deep love for Eastern Long Island, where she spent summers as a child at the Great South Bay in Patchogue. Joan also enjoyed many summer vacations at her sister Honey’s house, in Cutchogue. Later in life, she was fortunate to summer in East Marion at her little house on Bay Avenue. Joan had a passion for sailing and enjoyed racing against her brother Chris in Patchogue as a teenager. Joan carried this passion into her later years with Don in Cutchogue and her children East Marion.
Joan is survived by her children and their spouses Tony and Pat, Nick, Chris and Laureen, Carm and Bob, Greg and Evelyn, Mary and Gavin and Vince and Anya. Joan is also survived by several Nieces and Nephews.
Joan was blessed with sixteen grandchildren, whom she loved dearly.
Joan is preceded in death by her brothers Chris and George and sisters Mary, Honorah, Helen, Monica and Regina.
Joan will be waked at Dalton’s Funeral Home in Williston Park, funeral mass at 10 a.m. on Monday, June 14th at St Aidan’s R.C. Church and laid to rest at St Charles Cemetery in Farmingdale, N.Y. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, that donations be made in her memory at www.stjude.org, www.the-inn.org or www.staidanparish.org/give.