Joanne Francis Landau Carlson

CARLSON Joanne Francis Landau Carlson, age 48, of Layton, Utah and formerly of Orange, died on Friday, February 10, 2006 at the University of Utah Medical Center, where she had worked as a nurse practitioner on the Heart Transplant Team. She died tragically as the result of a violent crime. Joanne was born in New Haven, the daughter of Dr. S. Jack and Leona Landau. She is survived by her parents, daughter, Rachel, son, Trevor; brothers, Chuck and his wife, Catherine, Richard and his wife, Barbara, and Alan and his wife Andrea Landau. She is also survived by many nieces, nephews, cousins, extended family and a large network of friends and colleagues. Joanne graduated from Amity High School in Woodbridge, and the Educational Center for the Arts in New Haven,. She attended the University of Connecticut. While raising her two children she became a registered nurse with a Master's degree in Nursing from the University of Arizona and an Advanced Nurse Practioner's Degree from the University of Utah. She helped co-author numerous nursing texts and taught licensed practical nursing at Weber State University. After her brother's heart transplant in 2002, Joanne took a position managing patients awaiting heart transplants at the University of Utah Medical Center. As a teenager she was active in B'nai B'rith girls and rose to be the President of the organization for the eastern United States and Canada. She was an active member of her Reform Synagogue in Utah, where she became a Bat Mitzvah. Creative and vivacious with an infectious laugh, she loved needlepoint, crafts and Mah Jong. Joanne had a lifelong love of dance and studied ballet, then modern dance at the New Haven Educational Center for the Arts. Most recently, she became active in performance art as a Belly Dancer along with her daughter, Rachel. Joanne was an incredibly special person with tremendous drive for excellence. She was loyal, honest and loving. Her kindness was universal to all creatures on the planet. She was devoted to her four dogs, Shayna, Mac, Ruby and Daisy. Joanne was a gentle soul, who shed a bright light wherever she went and will be missed by the many people whose lives she touched. As per her wishes, Joanne was an organ donor. The Landau family would like to use her death as a reminder to people of the importance of organ donation, the gift of life. In lieu of flowers, please send donations in her memory to Mikey's Way Foundation, a charity created by her nephew to benefit children who are undergoing cancer therapy. www.Mikeysway.org; P.O. Box 76, Easton, CT, 06612. Funeral services will be held at Congregation Mishkan Israel, 785 Ridge Road Hamden, Wednesday at 11 a.m. with interment services to follow in the Mishkan Israel Cemetery, Jewell Street, New Haven. Fruneral arrangements in care of the Robert E. Shure Funeral Home, 543 George Street, New Haven.