Obituary of Joan S. Lonsdorf

Joan S. Lonsdorf and her twin sister Jane (deceased) were born in Brooklyn, NY October 8, 1929 daughters of the late John (Jack) and Clara Sieburg. After finishing grammar and high school in Brooklyn, Mrs. Lonsdorf graduated in 1950 from Philadelphia's Chestnut Hill College. Subsequently she completed secretarial courses at the Kathrine Gibbs School of Business in New York City 1951. Although she worked sporadically, previously, with her father in one or more of the five NYC restaurants the family operated including one in the Wall Street business district, she ultimately held a Washington, DC secretarial job with a Federal agency, possibly the Federal Business of Investigation. Mrs. Lonsdorf had one older brother, Paul, who died in the late 1930's. It was while in the nation's capital that she met and married Air Force Captain James J. Lonsdorf whose family was rooted in Scranton. Mr Lonsdorf became an insurance executive and the couple had one child, Nancy Forbes Lonsdorf , a bright girl who merited a summer experience with a family in France in her early teens. Diagnosed with a heart malfunction, the parents took Nancy to one of the best heart specialists in the country. The surgery was a success ,but the patient died tragically ,during recovery. She was right at her 15 birthday. The couple lived in several northeastern states including the New England states, New York and New Jersey, in connection with Mr. Lonsdorf's insurance position. At retirement the Lonsdorf couple chose northeastern Pa and built a home on King Arthur Court on high ground near Tory in Wayne County. Mr Lonsdorf died in the year 2000 a year or two after completion of their retirement home at Tory, Honesdale Rd. Alone, Mrs Lonsdorf chose to sell the home and take up residence in Hawley. Since then she has made her home in Hawley, White Mills, Hawley RD, 216 Penn Ave Hawley, Bethany Village, 712 Electric Street Hawley, and finally at Twin Cedar Senior Living in Shohola Township as required by her advancing dementia condition. At age 90 she is survived by her twin sister's children; two nieces in Oklahoma and a nephew in New York City and by members of her card playing Bridge Club and by 20 year landlord and friend, John Dyson of Hawley, in charge of her care and comfort in recent years, absent family. She will be buried next to her husband and daughter in Hillside Cemetery in Scotch Plains, NJ A funeral home visitation has been scheduled for Saturday, March 14, 2020 from 2:00-4:00 PM in the Arthur A. Bryant Funeral Home 1228 Main Street Honesdale, Pa 18431.