Bio courtesy of Mr. C
Joan Marie Steckler Anderson, 88, of Westfield, New Jersey, passed away peacefully the morning of Thursday, March 12, 2020 at Overlook Medical Center in Summit, NJ from complications of an acute infection acquired during a prolonged illness. A private funeral mass was held on Thursday, March 26, 2020 at Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church in Westfield. She was buried on Friday, March 27, 2020 at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in New York along side her husband, Colonel Robert Douglas Anderson, USMA Class of 1951.
A Celebration of Joan's Life will be held at West Point on Monday, August 23, 2021 starting promptly at 1:00pm with an escorted procession departing from the West Point Visitors Center at 2107 New South Post Road, West Point, New York for a Catholic service at the Old Cadet Chapel, followed by a reception for family and friends in the Great Hall at the Herbert Alumni Center. Masks are required indoors. For status updates about Joan's celebration in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, call (908) 232-4996.
Joan was born on January 17, 1932 in York, Pennsylvania to Richard and Lena (Eyler) Steckler. She loved to dance while growing up. Joan performed in high school assemblies executing difficult dance routines, such as tap dancing on the tips of her toes in ballet pointe shoes. As the marching band's head majorette, she also excelled in performing challenging acrobatic moves while twirling a baton.
After graduating from York High School in 1949, Joan moved to New York City to attend college while continuing her training in ballet and other forms of dance at the renown Ballet Arts dance school in Carnegie Hall. She also performed regularly at the famed Roxy Theater as one of their Roxyettes. Among her college classmates, Joan was known as The Dancer.
Joan graduated from Barnard College in 1953 with a bachelor's degree in mathematics, then married Harvey Sklar (aka Bob Holiday), an entertainer and Broadway actor. Although Columbia University had offered her a scholarship to pursue a graduate degree in mathematics, she chose instead to pursue a career as a dancer. Joan loved to dance. She danced on Broadway (The Golden Apple, 1954) under her stage name, Joli Roberts, as well as in television shows and commercials. To broaden her dancing career, she joined the Paul Steffen Dancers on their multi-year European Tour, resided in Rome, Italy (learning to speak fluent Italian), and appeared as a dancer in the Mario Lanza film, Seven Hills of Rome (1957).
After returning to New York City from Europe in the late 1950s, Joan and Harvey started a family by having a son, Michael, in 1960, but their marriage ended a year later. Abandoning her dancing career to start a new career using her math degree, Joan worked as an actuary at a large Wall Street firm until she married Robert (Bob) D. Anderson, a civil engineer and Air Force Reserve officer, in 1962. They would have a daughter and son together. Joan settled down to become a full-time homemaker and together they raised and educated their three children, Michael, Kirsten, and Bobby, in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The Anderson family eventually settled in Westfield on Brightwood Avenue in 1971.
During her childrearing years from the 1960s into the 1980s, Joan volunteered in many school and community social organizations where she coordinated activities, chaired committees, or served as their president. She joined the College Women's Club of Westfield as well. Joan tended to her vegetable and flower gardens, especially her roses, while also starting her own interior decorating business. But, Joan loved to dance. So for 12 of these years, she taught children and adults in all forms of dance as a devoted part-time instructor at Yvette Dance Studio in Cranford, New Jersey. Joan and Bob became real estate investors in the 1980s. They bought, managed, and sold several multi-family rental properties around New Jersey. For this, Joan also became a licensed Real Estate Salesperson.
After the death of her second husband, Bob, in 1988, with her child-rearing duties completed, and having always enjoyed teaching, Joan pursued her long-term goals of earning a master's degree and starting a career as a secondary mathematics teacher. In 1989, she graduated from Fairleigh Dickinson University with a master's degree in teaching and started teaching math at Rahway High School. With her wealth of life experience and maturity, Joan deeply engaged her students in the world of math with her unique teaching style encouraging group activities and participation using puzzle-solving, games, and team competitions. She also combined her teaching and dance talents to help train the high school marching band's color guard for years. Joan retired from teaching, her last career, in 2002.
Joan loved the movies and their stars since she was a little girl, and Broadway shows and their tunes since she had become a dancer. She was an avid reader, devouring horror books by Stephen King, mystery books by Agatha Christie, as well as countless biographies of movie stars, dancers, and various entertainers, including Frank Sinatra, one of her favorites. She always amazed her family with the amount of entertainment trivia she knew (which she used to great advantage in the game, Trivial Pursuit).
Joan was quite the competitive game player and puzzle solver all her life. She loved playing a variety of card and board games with her family and friends whenever she could, especially her two favorite card games: Liverpool Rummy and contract bridge. She also competed as a contestant on the TV game shows Password and Jeopardy in the 1960s. Upon retirement, Joan joined the American Contract Bridge League and became an avid duplicate bridge player, achieving the rank of Regional Master.
Joan loved to travel around the country and to exotic places all over the world with her family and friends. She achieved her ultimate goal of visiting all seven continents while touring past and present civilizations, communing with nature, and watching wild animals in their natural habitats.
Joan expressed a lifelong love of animals from enjoying her pets as a child, to nurturing her beloved miniature poodles and cats as an adult, to tending to her children's menagerie of pets as a mother. She impressed upon her children her love of and caring for animals of all kinds.
Joan's love of baking and gourmet cooking nurtured her family with delicious and unique meals served all year round since the 1960s. But it was her special holiday food that created the foundation on which she established and hosted her family's annual traditions of gathering together to celebrate birthdays as well as national and religious holidays, especially Christmas most of all.
Joan is survived by her beloved children, Michael Anderson, Kirsten Anderson Gordanier, and Robert Anderson (wife Jung-A); her adored grandchildren, Emily Gordanier, Robert Gordanier, and Noomi Anderson; her dear baby sister, Stephanie Steckler Seidner (husband Michael); and her awesome nephew and niece, Eric Seidner (wife Jen) and Victoria Seidner. She was preceded in death by her incredible parents, Richard and Lena, as well as her loving husbands, Harvey and Bob.
Joan Marie Steckler Anderson, 88, of Westfield, New Jersey, passed away peacefully the morning of Thursday, March 12, 2020 at Overlook Medical Center in Summit, NJ from complications of an acute infection acquired during a prolonged illness. A private funeral mass was held on Thursday, March 26, 2020 at Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church in Westfield. She was buried on Friday, March 27, 2020 at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in New York along side her husband, Colonel Robert Douglas Anderson, USMA Class of 1951.
A Celebration of Joan's Life will be held at West Point on Monday, August 23, 2021 starting promptly at 1:00pm with an escorted procession departing from the West Point Visitors Center at 2107 New South Post Road, West Point, New York for a Catholic service at the Old Cadet Chapel, followed by a reception for family and friends in the Great Hall at the Herbert Alumni Center. Masks are required indoors. For status updates about Joan's celebration in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, call (908) 232-4996.
Joan was born on January 17, 1932 in York, Pennsylvania to Richard and Lena (Eyler) Steckler. She loved to dance while growing up. Joan performed in high school assemblies executing difficult dance routines, such as tap dancing on the tips of her toes in ballet pointe shoes. As the marching band's head majorette, she also excelled in performing challenging acrobatic moves while twirling a baton.
After graduating from York High School in 1949, Joan moved to New York City to attend college while continuing her training in ballet and other forms of dance at the renown Ballet Arts dance school in Carnegie Hall. She also performed regularly at the famed Roxy Theater as one of their Roxyettes. Among her college classmates, Joan was known as The Dancer.
Joan graduated from Barnard College in 1953 with a bachelor's degree in mathematics, then married Harvey Sklar (aka Bob Holiday), an entertainer and Broadway actor. Although Columbia University had offered her a scholarship to pursue a graduate degree in mathematics, she chose instead to pursue a career as a dancer. Joan loved to dance. She danced on Broadway (The Golden Apple, 1954) under her stage name, Joli Roberts, as well as in television shows and commercials. To broaden her dancing career, she joined the Paul Steffen Dancers on their multi-year European Tour, resided in Rome, Italy (learning to speak fluent Italian), and appeared as a dancer in the Mario Lanza film, Seven Hills of Rome (1957).
After returning to New York City from Europe in the late 1950s, Joan and Harvey started a family by having a son, Michael, in 1960, but their marriage ended a year later. Abandoning her dancing career to start a new career using her math degree, Joan worked as an actuary at a large Wall Street firm until she married Robert (Bob) D. Anderson, a civil engineer and Air Force Reserve officer, in 1962. They would have a daughter and son together. Joan settled down to become a full-time homemaker and together they raised and educated their three children, Michael, Kirsten, and Bobby, in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The Anderson family eventually settled in Westfield on Brightwood Avenue in 1971.
During her childrearing years from the 1960s into the 1980s, Joan volunteered in many school and community social organizations where she coordinated activities, chaired committees, or served as their president. She joined the College Women's Club of Westfield as well. Joan tended to her vegetable and flower gardens, especially her roses, while also starting her own interior decorating business. But, Joan loved to dance. So for 12 of these years, she taught children and adults in all forms of dance as a devoted part-time instructor at Yvette Dance Studio in Cranford, New Jersey. Joan and Bob became real estate investors in the 1980s. They bought, managed, and sold several multi-family rental properties around New Jersey. For this, Joan also became a licensed Real Estate Salesperson.
After the death of her second husband, Bob, in 1988, with her child-rearing duties completed, and having always enjoyed teaching, Joan pursued her long-term goals of earning a master's degree and starting a career as a secondary mathematics teacher. In 1989, she graduated from Fairleigh Dickinson University with a master's degree in teaching and started teaching math at Rahway High School. With her wealth of life experience and maturity, Joan deeply engaged her students in the world of math with her unique teaching style encouraging group activities and participation using puzzle-solving, games, and team competitions. She also combined her teaching and dance talents to help train the high school marching band's color guard for years. Joan retired from teaching, her last career, in 2002.
Joan loved the movies and their stars since she was a little girl, and Broadway shows and their tunes since she had become a dancer. She was an avid reader, devouring horror books by Stephen King, mystery books by Agatha Christie, as well as countless biographies of movie stars, dancers, and various entertainers, including Frank Sinatra, one of her favorites. She always amazed her family with the amount of entertainment trivia she knew (which she used to great advantage in the game, Trivial Pursuit).
Joan was quite the competitive game player and puzzle solver all her life. She loved playing a variety of card and board games with her family and friends whenever she could, especially her two favorite card games: Liverpool Rummy and contract bridge. She also competed as a contestant on the TV game shows Password and Jeopardy in the 1960s. Upon retirement, Joan joined the American Contract Bridge League and became an avid duplicate bridge player, achieving the rank of Regional Master.
Joan loved to travel around the country and to exotic places all over the world with her family and friends. She achieved her ultimate goal of visiting all seven continents while touring past and present civilizations, communing with nature, and watching wild animals in their natural habitats.
Joan expressed a lifelong love of animals from enjoying her pets as a child, to nurturing her beloved miniature poodles and cats as an adult, to tending to her children's menagerie of pets as a mother. She impressed upon her children her love of and caring for animals of all kinds.
Joan's love of baking and gourmet cooking nurtured her family with delicious and unique meals served all year round since the 1960s. But it was her special holiday food that created the foundation on which she established and hosted her family's annual traditions of gathering together to celebrate birthdays as well as national and religious holidays, especially Christmas most of all.
Joan is survived by her beloved children, Michael Anderson, Kirsten Anderson Gordanier, and Robert Anderson (wife Jung-A); her adored grandchildren, Emily Gordanier, Robert Gordanier, and Noomi Anderson; her dear baby sister, Stephanie Steckler Seidner (husband Michael); and her awesome nephew and niece, Eric Seidner (wife Jen) and Victoria Seidner. She was preceded in death by her incredible parents, Richard and Lena, as well as her loving husbands, Harvey and Bob.
Bio courtesy of Mr. C
Joan Marie Steckler Anderson, 88, of Westfield, New Jersey, passed away peacefully the morning of Thursday, March 12, 2020 at Overlook Medical Center in Summit, NJ from complications of an acute infection acquired during a prolonged illness. A private funeral mass was held on Thursday, March 26, 2020 at Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church in Westfield. She was buried on Friday, March 27, 2020 at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in New York along side her husband, Colonel Robert Douglas Anderson, USMA Class of 1951.
A Celebration of Joan's Life will be held at West Point on Monday, August 23, 2021 starting promptly at 1:00pm with an escorted procession departing from the West Point Visitors Center at 2107 New South Post Road, West Point, New York for a Catholic service at the Old Cadet Chapel, followed by a reception for family and friends in the Great Hall at the Herbert Alumni Center. Masks are required indoors. For status updates about Joan's celebration in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, call (908) 232-4996.
Joan was born on January 17, 1932 in York, Pennsylvania to Richard and Lena (Eyler) Steckler. She loved to dance while growing up. Joan performed in high school assemblies executing difficult dance routines, such as tap dancing on the tips of her toes in ballet pointe shoes. As the marching band's head majorette, she also excelled in performing challenging acrobatic moves while twirling a baton.
After graduating from York High School in 1949, Joan moved to New York City to attend college while continuing her training in ballet and other forms of dance at the renown Ballet Arts dance school in Carnegie Hall. She also performed regularly at the famed Roxy Theater as one of their Roxyettes. Among her college classmates, Joan was known as The Dancer.
Joan graduated from Barnard College in 1953 with a bachelor's degree in mathematics, then married Harvey Sklar (aka Bob Holiday), an entertainer and Broadway actor. Although Columbia University had offered her a scholarship to pursue a graduate degree in mathematics, she chose instead to pursue a career as a dancer. Joan loved to dance. She danced on Broadway (The Golden Apple, 1954) under her stage name, Joli Roberts, as well as in television shows and commercials. To broaden her dancing career, she joined the Paul Steffen Dancers on their multi-year European Tour, resided in Rome, Italy (learning to speak fluent Italian), and appeared as a dancer in the Mario Lanza film, Seven Hills of Rome (1957).
After returning to New York City from Europe in the late 1950s, Joan and Harvey started a family by having a son, Michael, in 1960, but their marriage ended a year later. Abandoning her dancing career to start a new career using her math degree, Joan worked as an actuary at a large Wall Street firm until she married Robert (Bob) D. Anderson, a civil engineer and Air Force Reserve officer, in 1962. They would have a daughter and son together. Joan settled down to become a full-time homemaker and together they raised and educated their three children, Michael, Kirsten, and Bobby, in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The Anderson family eventually settled in Westfield on Brightwood Avenue in 1971.
During her childrearing years from the 1960s into the 1980s, Joan volunteered in many school and community social organizations where she coordinated activities, chaired committees, or served as their president. She joined the College Women's Club of Westfield as well. Joan tended to her vegetable and flower gardens, especially her roses, while also starting her own interior decorating business. But, Joan loved to dance. So for 12 of these years, she taught children and adults in all forms of dance as a devoted part-time instructor at Yvette Dance Studio in Cranford, New Jersey. Joan and Bob became real estate investors in the 1980s. They bought, managed, and sold several multi-family rental properties around New Jersey. For this, Joan also became a licensed Real Estate Salesperson.
After the death of her second husband, Bob, in 1988, with her child-rearing duties completed, and having always enjoyed teaching, Joan pursued her long-term goals of earning a master's degree and starting a career as a secondary mathematics teacher. In 1989, she graduated from Fairleigh Dickinson University with a master's degree in teaching and started teaching math at Rahway High School. With her wealth of life experience and maturity, Joan deeply engaged her students in the world of math with her unique teaching style encouraging group activities and participation using puzzle-solving, games, and team competitions. She also combined her teaching and dance talents to help train the high school marching band's color guard for years. Joan retired from teaching, her last career, in 2002.
Joan loved the movies and their stars since she was a little girl, and Broadway shows and their tunes since she had become a dancer. She was an avid reader, devouring horror books by Stephen King, mystery books by Agatha Christie, as well as countless biographies of movie stars, dancers, and various entertainers, including Frank Sinatra, one of her favorites. She always amazed her family with the amount of entertainment trivia she knew (which she used to great advantage in the game, Trivial Pursuit).
Joan was quite the competitive game player and puzzle solver all her life. She loved playing a variety of card and board games with her family and friends whenever she could, especially her two favorite card games: Liverpool Rummy and contract bridge. She also competed as a contestant on the TV game shows Password and Jeopardy in the 1960s. Upon retirement, Joan joined the American Contract Bridge League and became an avid duplicate bridge player, achieving the rank of Regional Master.
Joan loved to travel around the country and to exotic places all over the world with her family and friends. She achieved her ultimate goal of visiting all seven continents while touring past and present civilizations, communing with nature, and watching wild animals in their natural habitats.
Joan expressed a lifelong love of animals from enjoying her pets as a child, to nurturing her beloved miniature poodles and cats as an adult, to tending to her children's menagerie of pets as a mother. She impressed upon her children her love of and caring for animals of all kinds.
Joan's love of baking and gourmet cooking nurtured her family with delicious and unique meals served all year round since the 1960s. But it was her special holiday food that created the foundation on which she established and hosted her family's annual traditions of gathering together to celebrate birthdays as well as national and religious holidays, especially Christmas most of all.
Joan is survived by her beloved children, Michael Anderson, Kirsten Anderson Gordanier, and Robert Anderson (wife Jung-A); her adored grandchildren, Emily Gordanier, Robert Gordanier, and Noomi Anderson; her dear baby sister, Stephanie Steckler Seidner (husband Michael); and her awesome nephew and niece, Eric Seidner (wife Jen) and Victoria Seidner. She was preceded in death by her incredible parents, Richard and Lena, as well as her loving husbands, Harvey and Bob.
Joan Marie Steckler Anderson, 88, of Westfield, New Jersey, passed away peacefully the morning of Thursday, March 12, 2020 at Overlook Medical Center in Summit, NJ from complications of an acute infection acquired during a prolonged illness. A private funeral mass was held on Thursday, March 26, 2020 at Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church in Westfield. She was buried on Friday, March 27, 2020 at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in New York along side her husband, Colonel Robert Douglas Anderson, USMA Class of 1951.
A Celebration of Joan's Life will be held at West Point on Monday, August 23, 2021 starting promptly at 1:00pm with an escorted procession departing from the West Point Visitors Center at 2107 New South Post Road, West Point, New York for a Catholic service at the Old Cadet Chapel, followed by a reception for family and friends in the Great Hall at the Herbert Alumni Center. Masks are required indoors. For status updates about Joan's celebration in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, call (908) 232-4996.
Joan was born on January 17, 1932 in York, Pennsylvania to Richard and Lena (Eyler) Steckler. She loved to dance while growing up. Joan performed in high school assemblies executing difficult dance routines, such as tap dancing on the tips of her toes in ballet pointe shoes. As the marching band's head majorette, she also excelled in performing challenging acrobatic moves while twirling a baton.
After graduating from York High School in 1949, Joan moved to New York City to attend college while continuing her training in ballet and other forms of dance at the renown Ballet Arts dance school in Carnegie Hall. She also performed regularly at the famed Roxy Theater as one of their Roxyettes. Among her college classmates, Joan was known as The Dancer.
Joan graduated from Barnard College in 1953 with a bachelor's degree in mathematics, then married Harvey Sklar (aka Bob Holiday), an entertainer and Broadway actor. Although Columbia University had offered her a scholarship to pursue a graduate degree in mathematics, she chose instead to pursue a career as a dancer. Joan loved to dance. She danced on Broadway (The Golden Apple, 1954) under her stage name, Joli Roberts, as well as in television shows and commercials. To broaden her dancing career, she joined the Paul Steffen Dancers on their multi-year European Tour, resided in Rome, Italy (learning to speak fluent Italian), and appeared as a dancer in the Mario Lanza film, Seven Hills of Rome (1957).
After returning to New York City from Europe in the late 1950s, Joan and Harvey started a family by having a son, Michael, in 1960, but their marriage ended a year later. Abandoning her dancing career to start a new career using her math degree, Joan worked as an actuary at a large Wall Street firm until she married Robert (Bob) D. Anderson, a civil engineer and Air Force Reserve officer, in 1962. They would have a daughter and son together. Joan settled down to become a full-time homemaker and together they raised and educated their three children, Michael, Kirsten, and Bobby, in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The Anderson family eventually settled in Westfield on Brightwood Avenue in 1971.
During her childrearing years from the 1960s into the 1980s, Joan volunteered in many school and community social organizations where she coordinated activities, chaired committees, or served as their president. She joined the College Women's Club of Westfield as well. Joan tended to her vegetable and flower gardens, especially her roses, while also starting her own interior decorating business. But, Joan loved to dance. So for 12 of these years, she taught children and adults in all forms of dance as a devoted part-time instructor at Yvette Dance Studio in Cranford, New Jersey. Joan and Bob became real estate investors in the 1980s. They bought, managed, and sold several multi-family rental properties around New Jersey. For this, Joan also became a licensed Real Estate Salesperson.
After the death of her second husband, Bob, in 1988, with her child-rearing duties completed, and having always enjoyed teaching, Joan pursued her long-term goals of earning a master's degree and starting a career as a secondary mathematics teacher. In 1989, she graduated from Fairleigh Dickinson University with a master's degree in teaching and started teaching math at Rahway High School. With her wealth of life experience and maturity, Joan deeply engaged her students in the world of math with her unique teaching style encouraging group activities and participation using puzzle-solving, games, and team competitions. She also combined her teaching and dance talents to help train the high school marching band's color guard for years. Joan retired from teaching, her last career, in 2002.
Joan loved the movies and their stars since she was a little girl, and Broadway shows and their tunes since she had become a dancer. She was an avid reader, devouring horror books by Stephen King, mystery books by Agatha Christie, as well as countless biographies of movie stars, dancers, and various entertainers, including Frank Sinatra, one of her favorites. She always amazed her family with the amount of entertainment trivia she knew (which she used to great advantage in the game, Trivial Pursuit).
Joan was quite the competitive game player and puzzle solver all her life. She loved playing a variety of card and board games with her family and friends whenever she could, especially her two favorite card games: Liverpool Rummy and contract bridge. She also competed as a contestant on the TV game shows Password and Jeopardy in the 1960s. Upon retirement, Joan joined the American Contract Bridge League and became an avid duplicate bridge player, achieving the rank of Regional Master.
Joan loved to travel around the country and to exotic places all over the world with her family and friends. She achieved her ultimate goal of visiting all seven continents while touring past and present civilizations, communing with nature, and watching wild animals in their natural habitats.
Joan expressed a lifelong love of animals from enjoying her pets as a child, to nurturing her beloved miniature poodles and cats as an adult, to tending to her children's menagerie of pets as a mother. She impressed upon her children her love of and caring for animals of all kinds.
Joan's love of baking and gourmet cooking nurtured her family with delicious and unique meals served all year round since the 1960s. But it was her special holiday food that created the foundation on which she established and hosted her family's annual traditions of gathering together to celebrate birthdays as well as national and religious holidays, especially Christmas most of all.
Joan is survived by her beloved children, Michael Anderson, Kirsten Anderson Gordanier, and Robert Anderson (wife Jung-A); her adored grandchildren, Emily Gordanier, Robert Gordanier, and Noomi Anderson; her dear baby sister, Stephanie Steckler Seidner (husband Michael); and her awesome nephew and niece, Eric Seidner (wife Jen) and Victoria Seidner. She was preceded in death by her incredible parents, Richard and Lena, as well as her loving husbands, Harvey and Bob.
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