Joanne joined the Greater New Haven St. Patrick’s Day Committee in 2004, when her daughter Moriah, was crowned Parade Queen. She became a parade marshal her first year on the committee and still remembers when she got to the end of the parade route how she wanted to go back and do it all over again, she was hooked!

Her first volunteer position was as a member of the Awards Committee. She enjoyed getting to know the marchers and watching the pride with which they accepted their marching award. After one year she became Awards Co-Chair with Kathy Johnson. When Kathy stepped down, she took over as Chair and then Co-Chair again with Cathleen Steinau. In addition, Joanne also joined the Ball Committee which she was a part of for six years or more before she became chair for one year. She was also co-chair of the “100” Club with Colleen Hines.

Other committees Joanne was part of include ‘The Shamrock Open Golf Tournament’, the yearly fashion show, the ‘Annual Corned Beef Dinner ‘and others too numerous to mention. One of Joanne’s favorite committees and one she is honored to be a part of, is the Queen’s Committee. She is now and will forever be, a proud “Queen Mom”, a group that includes some of her very best friends.

In 2018, Joanne was elected Chief-of-Staff and thus became a parade officer. One year later she was the Parade Secretary and then became Parade Chairwoman. Joanne worked hard as the 2020 Chairwoman and then… Covid hit. One week before the parade was ready to march down Chapel St., it was cancelled due to the large number of volunteers, marching units, participants, and parade attendees who could possibly be exposed to Covid. It was the beginning of the Pandemic and life as we knew it came to a screeching halt. As we adjusted to our new reality, we continued to hold parade meetings via Zoom, hoping the 2021 parade would go on as planned. Sadly, this was not to be as Covid was not finished with us quite yet. Slowly, as life began to return to normal and stores and restaurants began to open, we started to resume our parade meetings to plan for the 2022 parade, which, thankfully, went off without a hitch! After an unprecedented three years as chairwoman, Joanne was thrilled to become the 2023 Grand Marshal and happily turned the reins of chairperson over to the capable hands of Bernadette Canning.

A proud member of the West Haven Irish American Club for the past twenty-nine years, Joanne served as Secretary, Vice-President, and a four-year term as President. She is also a member of the New Haven Gaelic Football & Hurling Club/IACC and the Knights of St. Patrick. In 2011, Joanne and her husband Glenn were highly honored to be named “West Haven Irish Couple of the Year”.

Joanne and her husband Glenn will be married for 45 years on 9.18.26 and cherish all their years together and look forward to many more to come. They have two children, Glenn Jr. (Nuris) and predeceased by their beautiful daughter, Moriah. They have two grandsons, Orlando, son of Glenn Jr. and Nuris, and Moriah’s son Declan.

Joanne would like to make special note of this year’s Parade Chairman, Catherine Hopkins Zaneski. Catherine, along with Siobhan Jurczyk, were the co-chairs of the Queen’s Committee when Moriah was named Queen in 2004. Joanne and Catherine have always shared a special bond through Moriah and that bond will be there forevermore.