Joan Elizabeth (Macdonald) Hudak

Joan Elizabeth Hudak of Herkimer, NY passed away unexpectedly, yet peacefully at Mohawk Valley Health Systems/St. Luke’s Hospital in Utica on Wednesday, January 26, 2022, at age 87, with family by her side. She will be dearly missed by all who knew and loved her.

Joan was born in Elmira, NY on February 20, 1934 to the late John Sanfield and Vera Louise (Mitchell) MacDonald. During her youth filled days in Horseheads, Joan worked for her maternal grandfather at his butcher shop; helped to sell ice from a horse drawn wagon; and was a ‘soda jerk’ at Brown’s Pharmacy. She sang in the choir for the Eastern Star and played softball for the Horseheads Blue Raiders. Following her graduation from Horseheads High School she attended Willard State Hospital School of Nursing. This is where she met Joe, stationed nearby, at Sampson Air Force Base. They married April 21, 1956, in St. Francis Church Interlaken, NY and loved life together for 56 years.

They raised their family in Berkshire, NY for 32 years. During these years, Joan participated in Cornell’s Cooperative Extension Home Demonstration classes; served as a loyal member of the Moose Lodge in Owego, NY; and served on the Berkshire Town Board of Elections. Joan took great pride in her career role as an RN. She was a very caring and compassionate nurse for all her days, starting at Biggs TB Center in Syracuse; Willard Psychiatric Hospital; Binghamton Psychiatric Center; Riverview Manor Nursing  Home in Owego, as night shift supervisor and then as a Tioga County Public Health Nurse. She truly cared for her patients and was well respected by the entire health care team she worked with. She spent many wonderful summers with family and friends at their cottages on Seneca Lake at Lodi Point. Joan and Joe retired to Lake Buckhorn in Temple, GA and lived there for 21 years, before returning to Herkimer in 2011.

Joan was a loving and dedicated wife and mother, nana, and great nana. She dearly loved life, her family, her friends and neighbors and always loved to chat on the phone with them. Joan loved her antiques and family heirlooms; she had an eye for fashion and decorating; and always looked forward to going to the beauty shop to spend time with a favorite hair-dresser. Joan had the pleasure of taking many trips, traveling with her family and a Senior Group of Friends. She enjoyed music, always with a song in her heart, and in her later years, she enjoyed  watching General Hospital and working on Daughters of the American Revolution and May Flower ancestry.

She was a communicant of St. Matthews Episcopal Church, Horseheads, NY; St. John the Evangelist, Newark Valley, NY; Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Temple, GA.

Joan is survived by her two daughters, LuAnn Hudak and her husband Terry Cobbs of Hertford, NC and Judith Lynne and her husband Patrick Fernandes of Herkimer, NY; granddaughter, Alysia Marie and her husband Neil Damin of Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri; great grandchildren, with whom she shared a special bond, Elyzabeth, Genevieve, and Johnathan; in laws, John Robert and Elaine Hudak of Winter Haven, FL, Margrit Hudak (the late Alexander Hudak) of Myrtle Beach, SC; and many cousins, nieces, nephews; great nieces and nephews and many lifelong friends. In addition to her parents, passing respectfully in 1986 and 1989 she was preceded in death by her husband, Joseph John Hudak Jr. in 2012; and twin sisters, Frances Irene Huff in 2007 and Phyllis Louise Joslyn in 2019.

The family will be present to receive friends from 11:00am to Noon on Tuesday, May 31, 2022 at Covert Funeral Home, 7199 Main Street, Ovid. A Memorial Service will begin at Noon at the funeral home. Burial will immediately follow at West Lodi Cemetery, where Joan and Joe will eternally rest side by side overlooking the lake.

In lieu of flowers, contributions in Joan’s Memory may be made to: East Herkimer Fire Department, 193 Main Road Herkimer, NY 13350 or Mo Vac Ambulance Service, 15 State Route 5S Mohawk, NY 13407.