Joan Danzansky

DANZANSKY

JOAN COX DANZANSKY

Longtime Washingtonian and beloved wife, mother and grandmother, died Sunday, April 24, 2022 of natural causes.

She was born Joan Winston Cox in Philadelphia, PA, the daughter of Edna Lee Cox and Joseph Winston Cox, Jr. Colonel Cox, a graduate of the U.S Military Academy at West Point, died in 1944, a casualty of the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

Joan later became the step-daughter of Joseph Alexander Gilchrist, Jr. and spent most of her early years in Sweet Briar, VA. She graduated from the Shipley School in Bryn Mawr, PA, and received her BA from Mount Holyoke College.

Thereafter, Joan moved to Washington, DC and worked in several administrative jobs in the DC area. It was there she met her future husband, Stephen Ira Danzansky. The two married in 1967 and had two children: Michael Winston Danzansky and Katharine Cox "K.C." Danzansky.

In 1976, Joan founded F.A.C.T. (Families And Children in Trouble), a 24-hour child-abuse prevention hotline dedicated to serving the greater DC Metropolitan area. The non-profit also became the D.C. Chapter of the National Committee for Prevention of Child Abuse, and Joan served as the Chair of the D.C. Mayor's Advisory Committee on Child Abuse and Neglect through three mayoral administrations. She was also a life-long member of the Junior League of Washington.

For her community work, in 1985, Joan was named by Washingtonian Magazine as a "Washingtonian of the Year". The write up for the award, referred to her as a "petite dynamo" – a moniker that evoked endless teasing aound the family dinner table.

Having grown up on a farm at Sweet Briar College, Joan had a love for "all creatures, great and small." When she left the Child Abuse Prevention field in 1988, she signed on as a volunteer at the Smithsonian's National Zoo (as an Elephant Interpreter) and at the Therapeutic Riding Center at the Rock Creek Horse Center. An accomplished equestrian herself, she soon became a certified instructor, helping children with various disabilities master the basics of horsemanship. A devoted dog-lover, Joan was known for rescuing stray canines and the Danzansky household was perpetually abuzz with a menagerie of wounded creatures that she would nurse back to health. She was well known in the neighborhood for taking in fallen baby birds, feeding and encouraging the fledglings into flight.

Stephen and Joan had several Golden Retrievers and Joan trained their third dog, Biscuit, to be a Certified Therapy Dog. Joan and Biscuit were well known for their regular visits to Washington's retirement homes, hospitals, and schools. Given her father's ultimate sacrifice in World War II, most dear to Joan (and Biscuit), was greeting the vets arriving on Honor Flights at Reagan National to visit the War Memorials on the Mall.

Joan was a devoted wife, mother and grandmother. She was fiercely independent, and a stalwart defender of the vulnerable. Her sharp mind relished solving both daily and weekly New York Times crossword puzzles and matching wits with contestants on ABC's Jeopardy. Add to that her gift for cooking, handiwork and mixing margaritas, in the eyes of her adoring family, "petite dynamo" was something of-an understatement.

Joan is survived by her husband of almost 55 years, Stephen Ira Danzansky; her two children, Michael Winston Danzansky and Katharine Cox "K.C." Danzansky and her three grandsons, Andrew Joseph Dillon, Benjamin Lee Dillon and Bodhi Coleman Joseph Danzansky.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, May 28, 2022.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations go to either:

Friends of the National WWII Memorial,

https://www.wwiimemorialfriends.org

or

People Animals Love (P.A.L).

https://www.peopleanimalslove.org