Joan Harnett Clare

JJoan Harnett Clare, 91, of Raleigh, formerly of Stamford, Connecticut, died peacefully Thursday, January 27, 2022. Joan was born in New York, New York, on December 13, 1930, to John Joseph Harnett and Grace Bell Harnett, who preceded her in death. She graduated from the Academy of Mount St. Ursula in The Bronx, and from the College of St. Elizabeth. Joan married Martin (“Buddy”) Joseph Clare on June 16, 1951, in Palenville, New York, where they had met as teenagers, at a time when New York families would vacation in the Catskills. He preceded her in death on August 29, 1992.

After several years in New York, they moved to the suburbs, and settled in Stamford, where they raised their children. Joan worked for Fidelity Bank in the evenings, running a machine that canceled checks, so she could be with her children during the day, and then for many years as a bank teller.

Joan and Buddy moved to North Carolina in 1985, and before Buddy passed they traveled on cruises to Norway and Russia. In later years she was a devoted and loving grandmother, and greatly enjoyed family vacations to Disney World, and cruises on Disney’s Big Red Boat.

Joan is survived by daughter Eileen Judith Clare, of Raleigh; son, Thomas Matthew Clare and his wife Jacqueline, of Raleigh; daughter, Patricia Clare Dowty, and her husband, Lawrence, of Raleigh; and grandchildren Brittany Dowty Hamer, and her husband Sam, of the Isle of Man; Erin Chappell Dowty of Raleigh; Patrick Riley Clare and his wife Hannah Margaret, of Raleigh; Dain Martin Clare and his fiancé Katherine Cole of Raleigh; and Colin Martin Dowty of Fayetteville. She will also be missed by granddogs Lucy, Boomer, Murphy, and Waylon, all of whom brightened Joan’s life.

After a family memorial service, Joan will make her final trip home to the The Bronx, where she will rest in peace next to Buddy, at Woodlawn Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Crohn's & Colitis Foundation, National Headquarters, 733 Third Avenue, Suite 510, New York, N.Y. 10017 www.ccfa.org, or to National Search Dog Foundation, 6800 Wheeler Canyon Rd., Santa Paula, CA 93060, www.searchdogfoundation.org.

Arrangements by Brown-Wynne, Saint Mary’s St., Raleigh. Condolences may be made through www.brownwynneraleigh.com