It is with a heavy heart that we acknowledge the passing of our mother, Joan Frances Schleehauf Mihalo on Monday May 27, 2024. Joan was born in Swedish Hospital in Brooklyn NY to Frances Gillen Schleehauf and John Frederick Schleehauf. She is predeceased by her husband of 67 years, John Frederick Mihalo Joan grew up in Queens and attended Our Lady of Wisdom Academy in Ozone Park, NY and then Queens College in Queens, NY where she majored in Early Education. Joan rushed several sororities at Queens College and accepted the offer to join Alpha Delta Pi and remained a proud and active member of this sorority.

After graduating college, Joan worked as a primary school teacher in the NYC Public School system and then, after moving with her family to Bay Shore, worked in the Babylon school system until retirement. She was fortunate to work in a profession that was also her passion. She always spent extra time with those children who needed a little more attention and care. She always had something special, like holiday themed pencils or stickers to add a smile to a child’s face or for those who needed a little attention and encouragement. She frequently came home with flattering notes and pictures from the children in her class and proudly kept them as a fond memories. Joan met her husband, John (Jack) Mihalo at a friend’s 16th birthday party in 1952 and there was a mutual spark between them. Despite some persistent suitors, Joan never dated another, even when Jack was away in the service and she kept every card and note Jack ever sent to her. They married in 1957 and together they raised a family of 2 boys and 1 girl. She and Jack instilled a strong sense of family, religion and tradition in them. Every holiday was celebrated to its maximum and then some with us joking that at Christmas if you stand still long enough you will be decorated like the tree! Baking Christmas cookies was a family event of continuing traditions, creative decorating and taste testing along with the traditional egg nog. Joan loved to cook and bake, especially family recipes, was an avid bird watcher and genealogist successfully tracing her family roots back to the early 1600s. Her computer room was proudly adorned with charts of family lineage.

Joan was very active in her community from participating in a ladies neighborhood bowling league, neighborhood Civic Association or volunteering at Good Samaritan Hospital where she was a member of the Guild. She was a dedicated Roman Catholic attending mass every Sunday and was active at St Patrick’s Church of Bay Shore where she was a part of the planning committee for fundraiser dances including Mardi Gras, April in Paris and Hawaii themes as well as the church restoration committee. Joan is predeceased by her husband of 67 years, John (Jack) Mihalo and her infant daughter, Alyson. She raised 3 children, John Stephen, Celeste ( Elizabeth) and Gerard (Jennifer), is also survived by 5 grandchildren, Kasie, Katie, Ava, Jake and Andrew and 5 great grandchildren Bailey, Johnny, Tommy, Jake and Declan. Her love of family and history will continue to be passed along to future generations through the stories she shared, holiday traditions, loving memories and the family cookbook she compiled.