Joanne B Wentworth

Joanne B. Wentworth, the mayor of North Branford from 1983-2003, died peacefully in the hospice care section of Saint Raphael's Hospital on Sunday, May 20th, 2018, after a short illness. Joanne was 83 years old and spent her last days in the presence of her loving family. She is survived by her four sons, Bruce, Bryon, Barry and Robert William Wentworth, three daughters-in-law, Lorraine Misbach Wentworth (Bruce), Ann-Margret Pitts Wentworth (Barry), and Denise Durante Wentworth (Robert William), seven grandsons, Kevin (Perry Band), Justin, Paul, Christopher, Jared, Zachary, and Jake Wentworth, two granddaughters, Julia and Jordan Wentworth, five nephews, Frederick, Robert, Charles, Peter and Patrick Swan, 2 nieces, Robbyn Swan and Tracy Swan Quale, and sister-in-law Terry Swan. Joanne was predeceased by her husband, Royal William Wentworth, and two brothers, Robert and Francis Swan. Joanne was born in New Haven on July 25th,1934 to Francis and Edna Robertson Swan, and graduated from Hillhouse High School in 1952. She then became an x-ray technician at Saint Raphael's Hospital, where she was to eventually meet her husband in January of 1958. They were married on June 28th, 1958, and 14 months later greeted the first of their four boys, Bruce. As the next few years produced Bryon and Barry, Joanne and Roy made the choice to move to North Branford in the spring of 1963. By December of 1964, when the family welcomed its final son, Robert William, they had settled in and begun to send their children through the North Branford school system, which all four would end up graduating from between 1977 and 1982. Joanne would become a stay-at-home mother until, as the last of her children began attending Cedar Lake School in September of 1969, she took a job as the North Branford editor for the Branford Review, which she held until 1977. Having reported North Branford’s transition from a Board of Selectmen to a Town Manager-Town Council form of government, she then chose to make a difference by running for Town Council, and thus began a career that would last 38 years, with four terms as a town council member, five terms as a deputy mayor, and 10 terms as Mayor of North Branford. After battling various illnesses in her last few years, Joanne retired from the Town Council, after a gallant effort to garner a 20th term, in 2015. Her final years were spent in senior housing, at the Carmen Romano Apartments in North Haven, with her son Bryon as her caregiver. She had lived a very full, courageous and productive life, until recent  illnesses curtailed her activities, which led to the untimely end of an otherwise remarkable life. Calling hours will be 4:00-7:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 24, 2018, at Keenan Funeral Home, in North Branford. A Mass of Christian burial will be held at St. Augustine's Church, in North Branford, at 10:00 a.m. Friday, May 25, 2018. Burial will be Private for the family. Donations in her name can be made to North Branford Scholarship Fund, P.O. Box 241, North Branford, CT 06471.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Joanne B Wentworth, please visit our floral store.