Obituary of Joan Abbott

South Plainfield – Joan Abbott, 90, passed away Thursday February 13, 2020 at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick. Joan Harriet Winkler was born on February 21, 1929 in Brooklyn to Harold Winkler and Johanna (nee Papierski) Winkler. Their parents had emigrated from the Poland and Germany several decades before. Joan moved with her family to Newark where she grew up. She graduated from Newark’s Central High School in January 1947, where she was voted the “quietest” by her high school class. After high school, Joan worked as a dictaphone/teletype operator in Newark, primarily for Westinghouse. In 1947, she also met a returned war veteran, Harrison “Buddy” Abbott, also from Newark. They dated for several years, and after gentle encouragement from Joan’s father, were engaged to be married in the Fall of 1950. Their marriage took place on December 15, 1950 at the home of Joan’s parents in Newark. They lived in Newark for the first few years of their marriage and moved to South Plainfield in 1954, into a house built by his uncle, who lived next door on Sampton Avenue. Joan continued to work at Westinghouse but stopped working when she became a mother. She was active in the Girl Scouts for many years and was active in the community in the PTA. She was a congregant of Messiah Lutheran Church in Plainfield for many years and later of St. Stephen’s in South Plainfield where she found peace and fellowship during the last years of her life She is predeceased by her husband Harrison and her brother Harold. She is survived by her daughter, Patricia and son, Alan, both of South Plainfield, and by her son, Kenneth of Chatham, as well as four grandchildren, Joanie, Sarah, Meredith, and Christopher. Funeral services will be held on Monday at 10am in the McCriskin –Gustafson Home For Funerals, 2425 Plainfield Avenue South Plainfield NJ 07080 followed by a funeral service in St. Stephens Lutheran Church at 11AM. Burial will be held in Hillside Cemetery at a later date. Family and friends may gather in the funeral home on Sunday from 2-4PM and 7-9PM. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Plainfield Humane Society or St. Stephen’s Lutheran Church.