Joann Totman

On December 2, 2025, a beautiful woman of 88 1/2 years by the name of Joann (Youmans) Totman passed away at St. Luke's Rehabilitation Center with her loving family by her bedside.

She was born in Morristown, New Jersey, on April 18, 1937, the fourth child of John and Catherine (Lee) Youmans. She was a 1954 graduate of FT. Hamilton High School in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, NY.

Joann applied for civil service work at the New York Port of Embarkation, where she sent out notices of Troop Rotations throughout Europe in the 1950s by way of the Brooklyn Army Terminal (BAT). Since she did such a good job and was such a great beauty, they named her Miss BAT of 1955.

There she met her future husband and became engaged to Lt. Melvin A. Totman, a 1955 Bowdoin College ROTC graduate who was sent on Temporary Duty (TDY) to San Marcos AFB, Texas for Army Flight Training School. After receiving his "wings" they were married on Sept 1, 1956, in the Fort Hamilton Chapel by Major Zumwalt in a military ceremony with a reception in the Officer's Club located in the Old Fort Battleworks in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, NY.

They honeymooned in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and a cottage on Nickerson Lake in Northern Maine. They then returned to the prettiest town in the country, Williamsburg, VA, to await further orders.

They traveled to Enterprise, Alabama, for helicopter training; then Fort Riley, Kansas, for deployment to the 81st Helicopter Co; and to Camp McCoy, Wisconsin, for National Guard Flight Training.

After completing his 3-year active-duty requirements, Lt. Totman joined the Light Military Electronic Department of the General Electric Co. in Utica, NY, as a Reliability Specialist who later moved to Whitesboro, NY, to raise his family.

While Joann loved caring for her family, she also liked to travel and enjoyed the many trips they took together. She especially enjoyed her trip to San Francisco to ride the Old Trolley Cars, visiting Fisherman's Wharf, and traveling the Pacific Coast Highway, to Monterey, Big Sur, Santa Barbara and all the Hollywood sights in Los Angeles.

Her favorite trip, of course, was her month-long trip to Europe where she visited Paris for three days and saw the Eiffel Tower, The Louvre, Mona Lisa, Rodan's sculpture, Notre Dame Cathedral and to Rouen to see where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake. She traveled to Mont-Saint-Michel and saw the high tides rolling in and out. She especially liked visiting King Louis XIV Castle of Versailles and walking the hall of mirrors and seeing all the massive landscaped gardens. She also traveled to the Loire Valley to see the great castles of Chambord, Chenonceau and Villandry. Then on to Sarlat to view prehistoric cave paintings and to Arles to see where Vincent van Gogh lived and painted his great works. After France, she traveled to Switzerland and took a train ride through the Eiger Mountain to the top of the Jungfrau at 11,000 feet. After Switzerland, she saw and walked through the fairytale Castle of Mad King Ludwig of Bavaria called Castle Neuschwanstein and Castle Linderhof. She completed her European experience by traveling down the Rhine to see all the hillside castles.

Her last big trip was to Las Vegas to see the Cirque du Soleil and the pretty city of Sedona, AZ, and then traveling cross country from Las Vegas on 9/11 to home in Whitesboro, NY.

She was a beautiful woman who had a beautiful life because she was a beautiful wife!

Joann was predeceased by her parents, John and Catherine Youmans; her sister, Charlotte; and brothers, John and Frank Youmans. She is survived by her husband of 70 years, Melvin; their three daughters, Deborah Lee Estey (Robert), Linda Harwood (Bruce), Robin Lehmann (James); three grandchildren, Jennifer, Jillian, and Emma; five great-grandchildren; and one sister, Noreen Loupis; several nieces and one nephew.

No calling hours, private burial in spring. Funeral arrangements entrusted to Dimbleby Funeral Home, Whitesboro, NY.