Joan Schreck Higgins (1939-2020)

​Joan Schreck Higgins (March 10, 1939 - June 29, 2020)
Joan Schreck Higgins, 81, formerly of Beaufort, SC, and Downingtown, PA, passed away peacefully on June 29, 2020, after a battle with Alzheimer’s dementia. Born in Harrisburg, Joan was the daughter of the late John and Grace (Albright) Schreck.
Don’t let her small frame deceive you; Joan was an impressive college athlete, playing field hockey at Immaculata College. But more impressive than her athletic skills were the dear, lifelong friends she made at Immaculata. We thank them for loving our Joanie girl so well.
Joan worked as a teacher, but her ultimate vocations were to be a loving (but stoically German) wife to her husband, Joe, a jovial Irishman, and to be a mother and grandmother. She was so proud of her children and her grandchildren (who knew her as “Ninny”). An avid reader, one of Joan’s greatest joys was reading a novel while rocking away on her marsh-facing porch, a grandchild or two at her feet. She would rise early in the morning for her long walks, and she could’ve walked around the globe if she didn’t destroy her shoes by making every pair of Keds into “slip-ons.”
Joan is survived by: husband, Martin (“Joe”) Higgins of Hershey; daughter, Mary Beth Higgins of Hershey; sons, Brian J. Higgins of Winnetka, IL, Sean D. Higgins of Columbia, SC, and Patrick M. Higgins of Beaufort, SC; and sister, Sally Wolfe of New Cumberland, PA; also surviving are her 11 grandchildren, for whom she baked “homemade” Toll House cookies.  
She was preceded in death by her infant twins, Kathryn and Mary, and her sweet granddaughter Victoria Teal Higgins. What a joyous hope in their reunion!
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Friday, July 3, 2020 at 12:30 pm at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church, 359 West Areba Ave, Hershey. Interment will be private. There will be no viewing or visitation.
In lieu of flowers, please consider making a contribution in her memory to the Masonic Village Hospice, 98 Masonic Drive, Suite 101, Elizabethtown, PA 17022. That’s where the saints are!

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