Joan Clarine Dalton

Joan Clarine Dalton, age 88, passed away on Sunday, March 13, 2022, in her South Walpole, Massachusetts home surrounded by loving family. Born at home in Norwood, Massachusetts on January 22, 1934, she was the daughter of Amos and Lydia Craig. When she was a year old, her family made the move to the neighboring town of Walpole off Moose Hill Road. She attended Walpole High School where she participated on the girl’s field hockey team and the softball team, as well as performed in the glee club. She graduated with the Class of 1951. After high school, she attended Peter Bent Brigham School of Nursing in Boston, graduating with the Class of 1954, and quickly went to work for Norwood Hospital as an operating room nurse.

Joan met her lifelong friend, Garret H. ‘Buddy’ Dalton, Jr., at the Bird Grammar School. She and Buddy reunited in high school and the two were married in Blessed Sacrament Church on April 28, 1956. The young couple moved to their home on Summer Street in South Walpole and began their family.  Joan went on to work for Mason-Gannon-Perkins OBGYN practice in Norwood and later the Department of Corrections where she remained for 20 years until her retirement in 1990. Ever social, she was a member of the Department of Corrections Bowling League at FICCO Lanes in Franklin. With the help of the Dalton family and friends, she also practiced private nursing.

There was never a dull moment for Joan, always having something to do or someone to see. She was a member of the Red Hat Society for Women and an active leader of the reunion committee for the Class of 1951, organizing numerous lunches and events since graduating. When she wasn’t attending functions, she could be found outside tending to her tomato garden, rose garden or even her 23-year-old geranium plant or inside making countless chocolate chip cookies and endless batches of chicken soup. Joan loved to host, happy to have people in her home enjoying her food or outside in the pool in the summertime.

Joan and Buddy would travel when they could, making their way to Europe, Scotland, England, Ireland, Central America, the Caribbean, Washington D.C., Florida, Hawaii and taking multiple cruises out of New York. She never stopped traveling, inducting her granddaughter, Catherine, as her new partner in crime. The two of them would always be planning their next trip or getting into some sort of trouble together.

Beloved wife of the late Garrett H. ‘Buddy’ Dalton, Jr.
Loving mother of Craig C. Dalton, and his wife, Karen, of South Walpole and the late Garrett H. Dalton, III.
Cherished grandmother of Cameron Dalton, and his partner, Jacqueline Horner, and Catherine Dalton of South Walpole.
Sister of the late Jean Wainscott.

Relatives and friends are kindly invited to attend Joan’s Life Celebration on Saturday, March 26, 2022, from 11 AM to 12:15 PM in the James H. Delaney & Son Funeral Home, 48 Common Street, Walpole, prior to Joan’s Funeral Mass which will be celebrated in Saint Mary’s Church, 130 South Street, Wrentham at 1:30 PM.  Interment will follow in Saint Francis Cemetery in Walpole.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Tri County Regional Vocational Technical High School, 147 Pond Street, Franklin, MA 02038 for the Medical Careers Scholarship in Joan Dalton’s name.