Joan Damien McLaughlin Emerson

"Wife, mother, daughter, sister and aunt, Joan Damien McLaughlin Emerson, lovingly supported by her family, crossed to her Other Side December 8, 2016. She was 61 years old and a lifelong resident of Baton Rouge. After graduation from St. Joseph Academy, Joan worked as a consultant and model in woman's fashion, she shared a real estate career with her husband Frank, and happily found her life purpose, as an LPN and later as a registered nurse, working many years on the skilled rehab unit at Our Lady of the Lake Hospital. She was preceded in death by her husband of twenty-nine years, Lt. Col Winiford Frank Emerson Jr., her parents: Wilma Marguerite Rabalais McLaughlin and David C. McLaughlin Jr. and, sisters: Blanche Marie McLaughlin and Kathleen Anne McLaughlin Perilloux. Joan is survived by daughter Carmen Marguerite Emerson and Carmen's fiancé David Magivney and her granddaughter, Haley Emerson Magivney, all of Ponchatoula, by aunt Sister Maria Rabalais, C.S.J. of Baton Rouge, by uncle Harold P. Rabalais and his wife Yvonne Buras Rabalais of Houston, by brother Sean Cornelius McLaughlin and wife Toni Farris of Sparks, Nevada, sister Phyllis Marie McLaughlin Nauman of Lafayette, brother Durward McLaughlin and wife Louise Knies McLaughlin of Baton Rouge, by the late Kathleen's husband, Clarence P Perilloux, Jr. of St. Gabriel, and by many nieces, nephews and cousins. Thanks to the loving and dedicated staff of Ollie Steele Burden Manor who cared for Joan in her last years, and to New Century Hospice and The Crossing at Clarity Hospice. We will celebrate Joan's life in the joyful way she lived it, on Saturday, December 17, 2016 at Ollie Steele Burden Chapel on Essen Lane in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Visitation will begin at 12:00 pm and funeral mass and commitment at 1:00 pm. Christmas flowers will bring joy to Joan's granddaughter.