Joan LeGrand

Joan A. LeGrand, fondly known by her family and friends (born Marie Joan A. Racine), 84, passed peacefully on February 12, 2023, after a long-time battle with illness, at the Baptist South Hospital Hospice care, Jacksonville, Florida. She was born on September 16, 1938, to Germaine (Roy) Racine Bernash and Roger Racine and raised in Chicopee, Massachusetts. Joan met her husband, Robert R. LeGrand, of South Hadley, Mass. (passed in April 2013). They were married in November 1956, lived in South Hadley, Mass., and enjoyed nearly 57 years of marriage. Joan enjoyed traveling with family to the ocean, to Florida, to Germany/Paris in 1985 to visit their daughter, Sandra, who was in the Army, as well as a 2016 family trip to Cancun. She obtained her motorcycle license at 50, after not wanting to be the passenger anymore, and made it known every Sunday that she did not like Football, and her husband was required to go into the other room to watch. Joan and Robert moved to Davenport, Florida, in the early 1990s. Joan enjoyed spending time with her family, doing crafts, gardening, restoring/finishing furniture, motorcycle riding, and snowmobiling in New York. She was a gifted seamstress and made the best coleslaw. She loved her family and leaves three children, her daughter, Roxann LeGrand Baker and her husband James; grandsons Casey and Corey, daughter Sandra LeGrand and her wife Eleanor; grandchildren Tarsha and Blaise; her son, Robert LeGrand and his wife Robin; grandchildren Caitlyn and Bobby, two great-granddaughters Sophie and Audrey, along with beloved co-grandmother Elona Gentile.

She also leaves behind her brothers and sisters, Norman Racine (who passed in 2022), Earl Racine, Eleanor Leach, Donald Bernash, Ronald Bernash, Wayne Bernash, all of their families, all of Mass., and Darlene and Rick Page of Orange Park, FL, and their families.

Her family will receive friends/family on February 22, from 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. at Hardage-Giddens St. Johns, 1285 St. Johns Parkway, St. Johns, Florida. A committal service will occur on Friday, February 24, at Jacksonville National Cemetery, 4083 Lannie Road, Jacksonville, Florida.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be sent to the Alzheimer's Association or American Cancer Society in honor of the deceased.

Alzheimer's Association - https://www.alz.org/

American Cancer Society - https://donate3.cancer.org

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.hgstjohns.com for the LeGrand family.