Joann D. Kish

1924 - 2019

Joan/Joann Delores (Yencsik) Kish, 94, loving wife of the late Anthony Ernest Kish, her devoted husband of 50 years, entered into eternal life on Sunday, February 3, 2019. Born on December 17, 1924, she was the daughter and only child of the late George Aloysius Yencsik (Yensick) and Josephina (Josepha) Helen (Skoczon) Yencsik. A lifelong resident of Wallingford, she graduated from Lyman Hall High School and attended Laurel College of Business before working as a secretary at the Silver City Glass Company in Meriden until she married and stepped away to become a mother and full-time homemaker.

Joann was a parishioner of Most Holy Trinity Church, where she and her beloved wed on August 24, 1946. In 1952, with her husband and young daughter, she moved across town to a house they built near Yalesville, which became her home for the next 67 years. She was proud to have been one of the first families of the newly formed parish of Our Lady of Fatima, and each Saturday in late summer, she brought gladioli from her garden to the church sacristy where she arranged them in altar vases for Sunday Mass. In addition to volunteering at the church, she served as an assistant Girl Scout troop leader during the mid-1950s. Joann devoted her entire life to being a loving wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, doing whatever she could to help her family. Always a generous and elegant lady, she was an avid reader who developed an adventurous spirit. Overcoming her initial reluctance to travel cross-country camping out, she and Anthony visited nearly every National Park en route to and from the West Coast. She also explored Quebec and Ontario, Canada, with him and in 1986 made the first of three trips to Europe, where she fell in love with Paris.

She is survived by two daughters, Merrie Ann Nall (Vincent) of DeKalb, Illinois, their children: Kimberly, Carolyn, Jonathan, Abigail, Christina, Katherine, and Andrew, and thirteen great-grandchildren; and Karen Twerago (John) of Wallingford and their daughter, Amy - all of whom love her dearly and will miss her greatly.

Visitation will be held on Sunday, February 10 from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Wallingford Funeral Home, 809 N. Main Street Ext., and a Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at Most Holy Trinity Church on Monday, February 11 at 11 a.m. In lieu of flowers, she preferred to be remembered with a contribution to a charity of your choice, particularly one that helps children.

A special thank you to Franciscan Ever There Care, which helped Joann realize her wish of remaining in her home until it was time for her to leave this world, and especially to Emelia McCarthy, an angel of a caregiver, whom we came to know and love. Heartfelt thanks also to the kind and compassionate nurses from Seasons Hospice who were there for Joann whenever needed during the final days of her life.