Joan Roberta Stutler

The relatives and friends of Joan R. Stutler are invited to attend her Memorial Service at 2:00 PM Thursday, December 20, 2018, at Grace Church Cathedral, 98 Wentworth Street, Charleston SC. The family will receive friends at Hanahan Hall, following the memorial service. The burial will be at 1:00 PM Friday, December 21, 2018, at Beaufort National Cemetery. . Online condolences may be offered at www.CharlestonFunerals.com.

Joan Stutler was born June 5th, 1924 in Manchester, England the daughter of Annie Naysmith Johnston and James Johnston, both native Scots. Her father’s engineering profession took the family to live in Brazil in the 1930’s. There Joan began her education while later attending Cheltenham Ladies College in Gloucestershire, England up to and including the time of the outbreak of the Second World War. After the war and a return to Brazil she attended McGill University in Montreal, Canada where she earned her degree in Physical Therapy, a profession she practiced for nearly fifty years.

She was married to the late Warren H. Stutler, Colonel, USA, a veteran of the Second World War, in Rio De Janeiro in 1949. She practiced her vocation in Brazil, Canada, and various places in the United States on the west and east coast including Atlanta and Charleston, notably at the Medical University Hospital.

She was fluent in Portuguese and, on occasion, acted as an interpreter for the South Carolina Ports. She inherited her mother’s Laborite passion for progressive reform and care for the poor and marginalized working at times in the Home Health field in poor neighborhoods.

She had an eye for beauty and a relish for a quick wit. She loved the company of interesting people finding herself often the center of interest. She was an authentic, bold, and honest woman who would not hesitate to tell you her mind while, at the same time, she was always ready to listen and explore. She was an adventurer of people.

Her late husband died young in 1967 and Joan raised their three children as a loving and caring mother. She taught them to live with integrity as children of a loving God and to see the world as a place of wonderful possibilities. She was a member of Grace Church Cathedral (Episcopal).

She was predeceased by her husband, her parents, her sister Elizabeth Coy of London, her daughter in law Eleanor Read Cain Stutler, and her son-in-law Ernest Poole.

She is survived by her children, Barbara Stutler, Carolyn Stutler, and James Stutler; her daughter-in-law Melissa Stutler, her grandchildren Emily Stutler, Suzanna Stutler, Stephen Poole, Daniel Poole, and Annie Poole; and her great-grandchildren, Allison Seymour and Riley Koepenick; and many friends.

Joan Stutler died on Friday, December 14th, 2018, at her home in downtown Charleston surrounded by her family. Arrangements by JAMES A. MCALISTER, Inc. (843)766-1365