Joan Bonnie Gnade

Joan Bonnie Gnade, 79, formerly of Dublin, died peacefully in her sleep at Pheasant Wood Nursing Home in Peterborough on December 13, 2010.

The second of three daughters of Edmund F. and Martha (Engell) Landrigan, Mrs. Gnade was born April 15, 1931, in Manhattan, NY. She lived near Van Cortland Park in the Bronx until her family relocated to Wyckoff, NJ in 1941.

After graduating from Ramsey (NJ) High School and secretarial school, she worked for New York Life in Manhattan before marrying her childhood sweetheart, William H. Gnade Sr., on November 29, 1952, at the Reformed Church in Wyckoff.

In 1968, she and her husband moved to Dublin with their two children, Patti Ann and William (Jr.).

After earning her NH real estate brokers license in 1970, she opened Willowood Realty with her sister-in-law, Dorothy Gnade, in Greenfield.

She later worked as a waitress at Nonies Bakery in Peterborough, a job she held from 1973 to 1984. She also worked at Audio Amateur magazine in Peterborough before joining Brookstone Company. She retired from Brookstone in Nashua in 1999.

In New Jersey, she had been a member of the Wyckoff Baptist Church and had served in the womens auxiliary of the Wyckoff Fire Department. In New Hampshire, she had attended the Peterborough Methodist Church and had been a member of the Dublin Womens Club.

After enduring radical breast cancer surgery in 1974, Mrs. Gnade mounted a strong battle with the disease for the rest of her life, enduring a relapse and treatments in 1983, and surgery and radiation in 1996. Through it all she maintained her zany sense of humor, her empathy for others, and a sensitive heart. She often sought solace on Myrtle Beach (SC), where her older sister owned a seaside hotel.

In 1997, her husband, William Sr., who worked for the MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, died suddenly at the age of 68. In 2000, her daughter, Patti Ann (also known as Dahlyaghan Evantova), died suddenly at the age of 44.

Survivors include her son, William H. Gnade Jr. and his wife, Jane G. Gnade, of Hancock; two grandsons, David M. Gnade of Dublin and Nathan S. Gnade of Hancock; and 10 nieces and nephews.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Joan B. Gnades name may be made to World Vision, a relief organization for children, at World Vision, P.O. Box 9716, Federal Way, WA, 98063-9716, or online at worldvision.org; or to the NH Special Olympics, 650 Elm Street, Manchester, NH 03101.

There are no calling hours. A private service in the spring will be held at her interment in the family plot at the Dublin Cemetery.