Obituary of Joan Gray Sloan

Joan Gray Sloan, 86 of Basking Ridge, New Jersey passed away on Thursday August 13, 2020. Joan was born in Mount Vernon, New York to Geoffrey H. Gray and Dorothy Vinton Gray on June 20, 1934. She graduated high school in 1953 from AB Davis in Mount Vernon, New York where she played center on the women’s basketball team. She went on to earn an Associate degree as a Medical Laboratory Technician from West Chester Community College, NY. In 1956, Joan married Kenneth H. Sloan Jr. of West Orange NJ. The happy couple moved into the Orange Garden apartments in Orange NJ and after having 5 children in 4 years while living in a two-bedroom apartment, they moved to 10 Everitt Place in Maplewood, NJ. Joan started working part time at Orange Memorial Hospital as a lab technician while raising her family. She later became a full- time employee and ended working at the hospital for over 35 years before retiring in 1997. Joan enjoyed playing tennis and golf and having lunch at the Maple Leaf diner with her friends. Joan was an active member of the Maplewood Little Club, the Basking Ridge Country Club and the Maplewood Women’s Club. Joan was also an avid reader. Joan loved life but it was really her friends and family that bought her the most joy and she had many. She is survived by her sister Patricia Gray of New York City, her five children and their spouses, 11 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren – Lucinda and Lloyd Cadigan of Millstone, NJ and their children Matthew, Erin and Connor and granddaughter Mavis; Kathryn and Randall Cizek of Avon, CT and their children Kenneth and Kimberly and son-in-law Raymond Briggs, Christopher and Nina Sloan of Ponte Vedra Beach, FL and their children Rebecca and Cooper, Susan and Andrew Powers of Stewartsville, NJ and their daughters Olivia and Jackie; and Lisa and Tom Benney of Phoenix, MD and their daughters Jessica and Chelsea, son-in-law CJ Giblin and grandson Jack. She is preceded in death by her husband Ken. Memorial donations may be made to St Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital in Joan’s name. THERE WILL BE A MEMORIAL SERVICE AT ST JAMES CATHOLIC CHURCH ON 9/12/2020 AT 11:00 AM.