Joan E. Weiss

WEISS, Joan E. (Hill) Aged 76, she had been a Brookline resident for over forty years after having previously lived in Boston and Cambridge. She died at home on November 8, 2009 among family and friends four years after diagnosis of ovarian cancer. She was beloved by all who knew her for her energy, her charm, her engagement with life and her concern for others. She leaves her husband, Robert, her children Christopher Boutourline of Revere, Peter Boutourline of Watertown and Douglas Weiss of Westport, Connecticut, her stepson Stephen Weiss of New York City, her daughters-in-law Beth Ann Fischberg and Tracy Boutourline, her grandchildren Amanda, Alexander and Nicholas Boutourline, her nephew Richard Hill, her niece Pagan Hill and her sister-in-law and sister-in-law's husband, June and Robert MacArthur. A graduate of Radcliffe College, she completed the Simmons College program in Social Work, following which she worked in a variety of settings before establishing a private practice as a psychiatric social worker. She was a founder of Midlife Options for Women, an organization that helped many midlife women decide the course of their future lives. She was also the first president of the New England Chapter of Stepfamily Association of America. She was an active and devoted member of the First Parish Unitarian Church in Brookline and for some years headed its Caring Committee. After accepting responsibility for one of the residents of the Mount Pleasant residential care facility she was active in support of the facility's program. A memorial service will be held at First Parish Unitarian Church 382 Walnut St., Brookline on Saturday November 21st at 11:00 a.m. Rather than flowers sent to the church or her home, she asked that gifts be made in her name to the Mount Pleasant facility at 301 South Huntington Avenue in Boston. For guestbook and directions visit www.bellodeafuneralhome.com