Joan T. (McNamara) Hanrahan

Joan T. Hanrahan, R.N., M.B.A.  1936-2025

Joan T. Hanrahan (McNamara), 89, of Providence and formerly of Barrington and Bridgehampton,
New York passed peacefully after a brief illness on May 4, 2025.  Joan was born in the Bronx, New York,
the daughter of Patrick and Mary McNamara.  She was the wife of the late Michael Hanrahan, the love of
her life, to whom she was married for 61 years.  She is survived by her five children, Michael Hanrahan (Joan Hanrahan), Joan Hanrahan-Miller (Jim Miller), Natalie Gray (Terrence Gray), Noelle Hanrahan (Maryanne Hohenstein), and Colin Hanrahan (Marc Harrison). She is also survived by her grandchildren Thomas Hanrahan (Kristin), Michael Hanrahan, Cameron Gray (Mary Sam), Ian Gray, Miranda Hanrahan Beach, Miles Hohenstein,
Jaime Miller, and Jessica Osgood (Sam); great grandchildren Kayla Miller and Jaylee Miller and five great grandchildren. She is survived by her sister, Mary McElroy and her two brothers James McNamara and Michael McNamara and her eleven nephews and nieces and fourteen great nephews and nieces.  

Joan was a graduate of St. Francis School of Nursing in Poughkeepsie, New York, Rhode Island College,
and Bryant University M.B.A.   She started her nursing career at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York City and  continued her career for over 35 years at Rhode Island Hospital and retired as Associate Director of Nursing.   Joan’s passion was the nursing profession, and she was a fierce advocate for both the profession and the nurses she worked with.   She retired not once -- but three times, as she missed it each time she retired.

Joan was also a Co-Founder and Board Member of Independence Health Services, a Providence based health care
agency with a mission to provide home health care services  to culturally diverse clients, and she continued on the Board of Directors and Professional Advisory Group long after retirement.

Joan will be remembered for her tenacious spirit, generosity and her unwavering devotion to those she loved.  Her legacy lives on in the lives of those she touched through her work, her community and her family.   Her interests were many – gardening, knitting, travel, the stock market, scrabble and bananagrams, reading, summer beach house vacations and in her day surfcasting for bluefish on Mecox Beach in Long Island.   No matter where life took her, even to Rhode Island, she never seemed to lose her Bronx accent – proof that the fiery girl from the Bronx was never far away.

The family would like to recognize the kindness and friendship afforded to both Mike and Joan by their neighbors
on Middle Street for their fifty-five years there and especially in their golden years.   We are also appreciative to the new friends Joan made at Medway Place for their care and concern and engaging community which she loved.  We are grateful for her colleagues from Rhode Island Hospital whom she adored and looked forward to each monthly get together – they were her heart.  We are also thankful to her Independence Health Care Services family who kept her busy after her retirement in her dedication to the nursing profession and for their continuous care and concern for her.  We also extend our enormous gratitude to all the family and friends who visited, called, sent cards or flowers after her surgery and to the excellent caring staff and administration at the Bethany Home.
 

Calling hours will be held on Friday, June 13th from 4pm to 7pm at the REBELLO FUNERAL HOME, 901 Broadway, East Providence, Rhode Island.    Burial will be private.   

In lieu of flowers, donations in Joan’s memory can be made to her favorite charity The Rhode Island Food Bank
rifoodbank.org or simply pay forward to someone less fortunate.

Online Condolences can be made at www.rebellofuneralhomes.com .
 

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