Joan Niles, 88, died peacefully at Penney Farms Retirement Community in Florida on Aug. 9, 2021 and will be dearly missed. Her family has lived on Rutherford Island since the early 1950s.
As an empty nester, Joan left New York to live in South Bristol year round until retiring to an assisted living residence near her family in Middleburg, Fla. Joan’s neighbors fondly recall her impromptu piano concerts, playing Chopin, Scott Joplin and the classic show tunes of Cole Porter and the Gershwins.
She was an avid collector of fine art, textiles and crafts, loved tennis, sailing and the performing arts. Joan attended Foxcroft School (1951) and earned her BA in Music from Goucher College (1955).
Joan is survived by her sister, Eleanor Hodges, of New York, N.Y.; and brother, Fred Lyman, of Harpswell; three children, Beth Niles of San Rafael, Calif., Anne Niles of Ozark, Ala., and Hamilton Niles of Belfast; six grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.
Due to the pandemic, a celebration of life will postponed until we can all gather safely again. Joan will be interred at Ware Episcopal Church, Gloucester, Va.
Please make memorial donations in lieu of flowers to Rutherford Library, P.O. Box 145, South Bristol, ME 04568; the Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust, 3 Round Top Lane, Damariscotta, ME 04543; or the Alzheimer’s Association.
