Joan Bodenlos

A social animal from her earliest days, she was anticipating one group of friends — her “Chocoholics”— the morning she departed for the hospital, and left spanakopitas cooling on her counter to be shared with a different group of friends who have been cooking for one another for decades.

Ever curious, she was reading about classical ideas of war for her beloved Great Books Group at the Burlingame Public Library, and anticipating her other book group’s plans to read The Correspondent by Virginia Evans this spring.

Civic-minded, she worked with immigrant populations preparing for the US Citizenship Exam up until the pandemic, and with children attending after school programs at the San Mateo Park School well into her 80s. She had a long association with the League of Women Voters and the American Association of University Women, and wrote hundreds of postcards encouraging voters to be involved.

She was a longtime supporter of the San Francisco Symphony, American Conservatory Theater, Hillbarn Theater, TheaterWorks, the San Francisco and San Mateo Arboretums, the Burlingame Public Library, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, and more. Anyone who wants to honor her in that way is invited to support their public library or public broadcasting station, another cause she was passionate about.

A Life-Master Bridge player, she reveled in a good game, but loved the social (i.e., “less serious”) games too. Discovering “Words with Friends” was a revelation for her. Likewise Wordle and Waffle.

She was pre-deceased by her husband of 56 years, Robert, and her sister, Marilyn. She leaves her children, Thomas, Susan, and William, adopted children, Cyndy, Ashok and Wally, her brother-in-law, Frank, nephews David, Richard and Terry, nieces Michelle and Patti, and beloved grandchildren, Jocelyn, Lauren and Bryan, and a beautiful garden, where the work was never done.

She was a role model for us all and we miss her.

A Celebration of Life will be held on Sunday, March 15, from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at her home, where her hundreds of daffodils are expected to be blooming.