Brundage, Joan (Silverherz)

Joan Silverherz Brundage died on Monday, June 20, at a hospice center in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, after a long battle with Pulmonary Fibrosis. She was 89.

Born in Ellington, Connecticut, the daughter of a shade tobacco farmer, she attended a one room schoolhouse before graduating from Rockville High School. Joan was a Government Major at Connecticut College, where she met Lyle, her husband of nearly 70 years, at a Yale mixer. They were married in 1953 and moved to Austin, Texas, where Lyle was in the Air Force, and Joan worked for the Texas State Legislature. She spent her married life in Maplewood, New Jersey, where she was an avid tennis player and a member of Orange Lawn Tennis Club. She enjoyed summers on

the Connecticut shoreline, often braving the coldest waters of the Sound to get her swim in before a community pool was built. A loyal supporter of the arts, she made frequent trips into Manhattan to attend ballet, theater, and exhibits at countless museums. Her devotion to politics and current affairs prompted daily reading of the New York Times and she was a passionate supporter of civil rights, reproductive freedom, and equality for all. Her sparkling insight and generosity

was evident in her wholehearted encouragement of all people to pursue their dreams. She is survived by her husband, Lyle, her sister Dorothy Silverherz Rosenberg, her son Richard, daughter Elizabeth and her husband Scott, her grandchildren, Hannah, Sophie and Sam, and great grandchild, Odin Abraham. Contributions in her memory can be made to Planned Parenthood.