Joan Blake Ricca

Joan (Jan) Blake Ricca passed away on March 10, 2025, at her home in Anchorage.
Born in 1931, Joan was raised in Rockford, Illinois. She graduated from Bishop Muldoon High School in 1949. As a teenager she dreamed of becoming a pitcher for the Rockford Peaches of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. When her mother proved less than enthusiastic about that goal, Joan went on to athletic achievement in other areas, including winning several bowling championships.
A graduate of McConnell Travel School in Minneapolis, Joan began a lifelong career in the travel industry, first at Northwest Airlines, which later merged with Delta Airlines. When she retired after decades of service, Joan ranked number one in employee seniority at Delta worldwide.
She and her husband Peter moved to Alaska from Bellevue, Washington in 1975 when Peter joined the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company.
They enjoyed Major League baseball, opera, gourmet cooking, and entertaining their large circle of friends and family and sharing with them their passion for all things Alaska. Another favorite interest was global travel. Some of her fondest memories were of their adventures in Italy and Japan, and cruise ship voyages.
In their later years, Joan and Peter purchased a cabin in Cooper Landing by the Kenai Lake and loved spending weekends upgrading the surrounding area and relishing the environment.
Joan was preceded in death by her husband of 55 years, Dr. Peter Ricca, on February 20, 2020; her parents, Edward Tracy and Ruth (Swan) Blake; her two sisters: Mary Jane (Blake) Wilson and brother-in-law Robert Wilson, and Ruth Ann (Blake) Nelson Jonasen, and brother-in-law Ralph Jonasen; her brother William Joseph Blake and his wife Patricia, her sister-in-law Gloria (Ricca) Schepp, and nephews Michael Joseph Blake and Peter John Blake. She is survived by 7 nieces and 5 nephews, 8 great-nieces and 7 great-nephews, and 10 great-great-nieces and 10 great-great nephews.
Funeral services will take place on Friday March 28, 2025. Visitation begins at St. Patrick's Church, on Muldoon Road in Anchorage, at 11:00 a.m., with the rosary at 11:30 a.m., and the Funeral Mass at 12:00 p.m. A luncheon at the church hall will follow the Mass.
Donations in Joan's memory can be made to: Beans Café, Bishops' Attic, or a charity of your choice.