Joan Tupper

Joan Putnam Tupper

I wish to announce-that with her usual insistence it be done her way- Joan Putnam Tupper has finally left the building.

Born with her twin Donald on February 23, 1932, Joan grew up in Wethersfield, CT where she took her small hamlet by storm, breaking the hearts of young boys and being crowned football queen her senior year.

From there she graduated from the University of Bridgeport and took to the skies as an international stewardess for Transworld Airlines' piston fleet. It was on a flight from Paris that she met my father, the late Jack W. Tupper, MD, who was returning from several months work with Dr. Albert Schweitzer in Africa. He happened to have on his lap, a lute made by a leper, and that did it for her. After a year and ten dates they were married and settled in a gnomish hand-built brick house that became her muse. And as I promised, she lived in that house in Piedmont, CA for the remainder of her days.

Joan leaves me, Shelby Putnam Tupper, her only child, her handsome and indefatigable son-in-law, Erich Tupper (who took my last name), her terribly long-awaited, beloved grandchildren, the spirited Remington Scout Tupper (15) and the analytical Grayson Storm Tupper (13); her brothers, adoring and inventive twin, Donald Putnam and Lee Putnam, both of Wethersfield, CT and finally, her doting and ever-patient niece Diane Hogle Fletcher of Pleasant Hill.

We would like to bestow untold gratitude onto Molly and Tyler Slay for their glue that held us all together in these final years, and for keeping us stitched all around the edges. Additional thanks goes to our 25-month hospice team-most especially Aldolfo, who, huge and scary at first, had the touch of ten angels.

As wished by Joan, there will be no services. Please resist ephemeral flowers and direct your kind attention to the Alzheimer's Association of America. https://act.alz.org. We would not wish the last 15 years of torment on any other family, nor their loved one(s). Thank you.