Joanne Marie (Hughes) Smigliani, of Milton, Friday, March 29, 2024.

Joanne grew up in Milton and graduated from Saint Gregory’s Grammar School and High School. She was an excellent student and talented musician playing the cello, piano and organ. She regularly played the organ at Saint Gregory’s school masses and concerts. She then attended Aquinas Junior College for secretarial studies. She was employed at Richard C. Knight Insured Tuition Insurance Company, Milton Public Schools and Temple Shalom in Milton.

In 1985 Joanne and her children, Christopher and Monica, moved to Derby in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont when Thomas Smigliani became an assistant superintendent of schools in Lamoille County. Joanne chose a new career as a full-time day-care provider. It was in this position that Joanne grew as a gifted and loving molder of her young charges who started as early as three months old and stayed until they left for preschool or kindergarten. Almost immediately the parents labelled her nursery, “Jo-Jo’s Boot Camp.” Today most of Joanne’s graduates have finished college, are married and have started their own careers and families. Even when Joanne was well into the long goodbye of dementia, her spirits were always lifted by the visits, phone calls, and cards of parents and graduates.

Joanne would not ever give herself such praise. The legacy she has left remains a testament of her many talents, love, humility and devotion to serving all without reservation. Rest in Peace. You will live in our hearts forever.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at our Lady of Visitation Parish, Saint Mary of the Hills Church, 29 St. Mary’s Road, Milton, Saturday April 20 at 10:00am. There will be a visiting hour at Dolan Funeral Home, 460 Granite Avenue, East Milton, Saturday 8:30-9:30am. Interment Milton Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Joanne’s memory will be appreciated by Accent Care Hospice, 1 Edgewater Drive, Suite 103, Norwood, MA 02062, or Milton Residences for the Elderly, Winter Valley, 600 Canton Avenue, Milton MA 02186, orThe Milton Council for the Aging, 10 Walnut Street, Milton, MA 02186.