Joan C. Caldwell

Joan Colvin Caldwell passed away on February 14, 2025, at the age of 84. She was born on April 18, 1940, in Northeast Philadelphia and raised on Sanger Street. Joan was the beloved eldest child of Alfred J. and Isabelle (Neely) Colvin; her brother George passed away in infancy. Joan was predeceased by her loving husband of 60 years, Thomas Laddey Caldwell. She was a devoted mother to Heather Kearney (Albert) of Collegeville, PA, Beverly Waltz (William) of Pewaukee, WI, and Thomas Caldwell (Veronica Murphy) of Woodbine, MD.

Joan will be greatly missed by her children and grandchildren: Madeline, Christopher, Stephen, David, and Alyssa. She cherished reading stories to her grandchildren and gifting each a "lovable" stuffed animal. One of the grandchildren's favorite memories is making "food friends', a healthy snack of yogurt, fruit, and cereals made to look like a person.

Joan enjoyed growing up in the city of Philadelphia, where she made lifelong friends, including Jane Smith. After graduating from Olney High School, she began working at Smith, Kline & French as a secretary. She met her husband, Tom, on a blind date, and they married in 1961 then moved to Topeka, Kansas. In 1963, they relocated to Audubon, Pennsylvania, where they raised their family. Joan attended Gwynedd Mercy College where she studied English and French and earned a Bachelor degree. Throughout the years, she held various positions, including office manager at Egypt Road Dental, paralegal, and decorator at a fabric store. Her most treasured occupation was as a matchmaker, where her greatest success was pairing up Bev and Bill. She continued trying to find Alyssa a husband until her last day.

Joan's passion for genealogy allowed her to connect with close and distant cousins, and she took great pride in her Scottish-Irish heritage. Tom and Joan enjoyed traveling both domestically and internationally. Joan also loved participating in the Questers Heirloom Group, book clubs, puzzling (including Wordle!), and watching the news. She resided at Elm Terrace for 14 years, holding many volunteer positions, including maintaining a garden, documenting ETG events, and interviewing new members. Her most recent volunteer role was with the Spiritual Committee.

Joan passed away on Valentine's Day, a fitting tribute to a life filled with love. She deeply loved God, her life, the people she met, and, most of all, her family. She was deeply cherished and will be greatly missed.

A memorial service for family and friends will be held at Elm Terrace (660 N Broad St, Lansdale, PA) on Thursday, April 24th at 1:00 PM.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Samaritan's Purse US Disaster Relief https://www.samaritanspurse.org/?form=MG0AV3 or the Good Shepherd Rehab https://www.goodshepherdrehab.org/ways-to-give/memorial-tribute-gifts/