In Memory of Joan Marie Frost

Obituary

In the early morning hours of September 10, 2025, Joan Marie Frost of New Hartford, NY passed away. Her passing was due to cardiac failure. She was 74 years of age.

Born June 30th, 1951, the eldest of five siblings, Joan grew up on the family dairy farm in Cassville, NY.  She attended Sauquoit Valley High School and graduated salutatorian of her class. Joan matriculated her undergraduate studies at Fordham University earning a degree in Political Science. For post-graduate work, Joan attended Simmons University in Boston and received a Masters of Social Work, thus setting the stage for her life’s work in the field of human services.

Joan returned to Central New York where she would work through the years for a number of organizations as a social worker.  Family Services, Catholic Charities, and the Mohawk Valley Psychiatric Center were all graced by Joan’s clinical skills. For a time, Joan also went into private practice as a family therapist, helping many folks through troubled times. Many former colleagues speak of Joan’s great analytical prowess, of her remarkable skill in mentoring new staff members into the work, of her ability to dissect difficult challenges into clear, workable solutions. Joan’s insight, knowledge and humor were all highly valued in this challenging field of work.

Throughout her college years and the early days of her career, Joan enjoyed her role as big sister and brought her mentoring to younger sisters Shirley and Kathleen by way of road trips and experiential travel!  Joan’s Route 66 adventures for the 70s and 80s included Colorado, Washington DC and Michigan for Shirley and Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington DC, North and South Carolina for Kathleen. These trips were great bonding experiences, the memories of which remain strong for the sisters to this day.

It would be in the early 1980's when Joan would meet Alicia Davoli, the person who would complete her life and become her partner through more than four decades of joyful companionship. With Alicia also working in the field of human services, the two found that they had many other interests in common as well. Attending workshops on meditation, yoga and self-actualization, travels each July to the wonder and joy and artistic hub that was Provincetown, finding spiritual contentment at the St James’ Episcopal Church in Clinton, enjoying each other’s family events, adventures in antiquing, the beach in Ogunquit, finding new area restaurants that would quickly become their go-to dining spots, and so much more. The center of their joy would become the house they would purchase together in New Hartford, a truly treasured home. Joan and Alicia would share this motto as their mantra for their life together, “If there ever comes a day when we can’t be together,  keep me in your heart and I will be there forever.”    

A private and reserved person, one might also say that still waters ran deep with Joan. She was passionate about social issues, fiercely attentive to politics (as her mother Eleanor had been), and an avid reader. She had the soul of a poet. Her collection of poetry CARMEL GRAY CLOUDS is incisive, deep, covering much poetic ground by way of eight-line experiments in verse. Joan’s short story THE DANCE, her contribution to the anthology ONE ADIRONDACK CHRISTMAS, is an extremely poignant tale of recovery from loss. 

You could say, however, that Joan’s deepest passion rested in the idea of family. The family historian knowing all significant dates and family names, Joan loved to dig deeply into the many layers of her English/Irish history, relishing the huge network of extended family still living in the region. This sense of history was highlighted by a great love and deep interest in her many nieces and nephews within the Frost/Brennan and the Davoli families. She followed the progress of their lives religiously, a promoter in so many ways for their success in life. 

Joan is survived by her beloved partner Alicia Davoli, her brother Robert ( Lisa) Frost Jr., sister Shirley (David) Donohue, sister Kathleen (William) Holland, and Alicia’s sisters Marianne Salerno, Deborah J. Davoli, Dawn (Alan) Perta. Her adored nephews and nieces: Zachary (Sarah) Donohue, Sarah (James) Wen, Robert (Angela) Frost III, Heather (Brandon) Frost, John (Samantha) Frost, Daniel Holland, Olivia Holland, Kimberly (Erik) Geizer, Christopher Rodziewicz, Chelsea Yourdon, Adrian (Shannon) Bumbolo, Alex (Racheal) Bumbolo, and many Great-nephews and Great-Nieces.

Joan was predeceased by her father Robert Frost Sr., mother Eleanor Frost,  sister Patricia Dlugolecki, brother-in-law Philip Dlugolecki, and Alicia’s mother and father, Al and Jane M. Davoli.

Funeral services will be held at St.  James’ Episcopal Church, 9 Williams Street, Clinton, NY on September 19th at 10:30 am followed by the burial at St. Paul’s Episcopal Cemetery, Snowden Hill Road, Paris, NY. A reception at St. James’ Episcopal Church will follow. Arrangements are with Friedel, Williams & Edmunds Funeral and Cremation, 13 Oxford Rd., New Hartford.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital at www.stjude.org.

For online expressions of sympathy go to fwefh.com.