Joan Fleming Anders, age 92 of San Mateo, CA died peacefully on March 1, 2019, after a brave and gracious 7-year battle with Alzheimer’s Disease.
Joan was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on August 6, 1926, to W. Ivan Fleming and Mary Middleton Fleming. Joan graduated from the University of Manitoba in 1947 with a B.S. in Nutrition. She was a member of the Alpha Gamma Delta sorority and maintained lifelong friendships with several of her sorority sisters.
On February 12, 1954, Joan attended Lincoln’s birthday dance at the YMCA in Champaign-Urbana IL, where she met her future husband, Edward Anders. On November 12, 1955, they married, embarking on a beautiful and enduring love story. Chicago was home for Joan and Ed until his retirement in 1991 when they moved to Bern, Switzerland, and then to California. Joan’s career focused on prenatal and infant nutrition and included 6 years lecturing at Loyola University. In retirement Joan was an active contributor to the International Club of Bern and the American Women’s Club of Bern, sharing her expertise in nutrition. Joan was the steady, quiet partner in Ed’s career, providing vital support that contributed to his success.
Joan’s life was filled with the things she loved – learning (particularly history, art, and languages), travel, classical music, opera, creating wonderful meals for family and friends, and caring for her family. In retirement, she published two scholarly books on her family’s history. As a daughter, friend, sister, wife, mother, and grandmother, Joan shared her calm and gentle personality through her warmth, compassion, love, positive outlook and unshakeable patience. She not only treated everyone with kindness and respect but had a unique gift for making others feel welcomed and special.
Joan is survived by the love of her life, her devoted, adoring best friend and husband of 63 years Edward Anders. She is also survived by a son, George (Betsy Corcoran) Anders, a daughter Nanci (Anders) Schiman, grandchildren Matthew and Peter Anders, Sara, Amy and Leah Schiman and her brother Bob (Cynthia) Fleming, niece Vicki (Fleming) Reid and nephews Bill, John and Tom Fleming.
A special thank you to the staff of the Stratford Assisted Living, Mission Hospice and Total Care Services for their kind and compassionate care.