Joan Hughes

Joan MacNider Hughes
April 21, 1937 - November 13, 2021
Joan MacNider Hughes, beloved mother and devoted grandmother passed away peacefully while recovering from a short illness. A third generation Californian, she was born in San Francisco to William and Cornelia MacNider. Soon after, the family moved to Grass Valley and upon her father's death, to San Andreas.

In 1955, Joan graduated at the top of her class from Calaveras High School. She was a proud alumna of U.C. Berkeley, where she received her B.A. in Political Science and English. She married in 1959 and settled and raised three children in San Francisco. Joan was active in her children's respective school communities and volunteered her time with organizations such as the Little Jim Club which benefitted Children's Hospital.

During the 1970's, Joan became an advertising sales executive and built a successful 30-year career in media sales for worldwide magazines and newspapers. She started her career with San Francisco Magazine and in the 1980's transitioned to New West/California and then Texas Monthly. The balance of her career was spent working for media agencies representing magazines, such as Chicago, Delta Sky, Eating Well, New England Monthly, Saveur and Texas Monthly, and newspapers, such as The Globe and Mail, Financial Times, LeMonde, Allgemane Zeitung, The Nikkei, New Zealand Herald, Singapore Straits Times and the South China Morning Post. Joan's work brought her many important friendships and an appreciation of other cultures through her world travels.

Joan was charismatic, full of energy and fun to be around. Always elegant but down to earth, she enjoyed Opera in the Park as much as Pugs in the Park (Pug Sunday). Joan was a regular museum and theater goer and introduced her six grandchildren in turn to The City's art and culture. She also proudly attended her grandchildrens' performances, school activities and sports events.

Joan's "happy place" was the High Sierra, where she loved to hike, climb peaks and leave quotes in mountain registers. On Granite Chief she wrote "the only way to truly measure a mountain is with your feet." The time she spent in nature cultivated a deep concern for the environment and the demise of wildlife around the world.

Joan was a devoted mother and grandmother making all around her feel loved. The traditions she created, big and small, have touched the lives of many and she will be missed. She is survived by her children: Caroline (Bruce), Jennifer and Bill (Jill), and her grandchildren: Hannah, Oliver, Sarah, Phoebe, Fiona and Ian, all of whom reside in the Bay Area. She was predeceased by her sister, Sandra O'Brien.

The family asks that gifts in memory of Joan be made to the Yosemite Conservancy or the World Wildlife Fund.