Joan F. Dexter

Joan was born at Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital on January 12, 1941, to Haslett and Ruth (Hadlock) Fullington. 

She grew up in Hanover, NH, with brother, Ron, sister, Holly, and many cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents who also lived in dwellings on the family farm. The Fullington family’s Dartmouth Dairy was on the long river plain.  Their identity and the Dartmouth Dairy business was synonymous. When her parents and uncle retired in 1971, and the dairy was closed, it made news. It was such an event that an image of her dad and his brother, Wilson, and their cows, was on the 1971 Hanover Town Report cover. The Valley News covered the “final crossing” over Route 10 of the dairy cows sent to auction.

Joan lived on a working dairy farm, but she had a destiny beyond the farm. After graduating from Hanover High School in 1959, she attended Hesser Business School in Manchester. She completed her course of study in 1960. A few years later she answered her true calling as a nurse. She returned to her family home and enrolled at the Mary Hitchcock School of Nursing. She became a Licensed Practical Nurse in 1963 and worked as a licensed practical nurse until 1991. 

Her jobs in nursing were many, starting at Cottage Hospital, then later Grafton County Nursing Home, Littleton Hospital, the orthopedic practice of Dr. Lon Howard, and then Lafayette Center. Her skills extended beyond the white cap and uniform. 

She married Clifton Hugh Dexter in 1964. He was best known by his nickname, “Mutt”. He operated the Dexter Garage on Main Street, Lisbon, and later opened “Mutt’s Garage” on the corner of Route 302 and Millbrook Road. He was a master mechanic and welder. He also did excavation work and needed the cavernous building so that he could maintain trucks and tractors. Joan drove dump trucks, pumped gas, helped with oil changes, and did bookkeeping for his businesses. The school bus service they operated together served Lisbon, Lyman, and Landaff. Joan was at work driving school buses for one of the routes. The bus business was sold to Wallie Berry.

She also accompanied Mutt on many hunting and fishing adventures. The walls of their home were adorned with mounted caribou, deer, bear, bobcat, and Canadian lynx boasting his skills. 

Joan and Mutt had two children together, Regina and Jonathan. When they were school-aged, Joan returned to work as a nurse. She worked night shifts so that she could be at home with the children after school. Every other weekend she would drive to visit her parents in Hanover. They were very close.

In the summer on hot days, she and other Landaff mothers taught their children to swim in a swimming hole in the brook that flowed past their home. The favorite spot was known to neighbors as, “the Big Rock.” The children are still sworn to secrecy of its exact location.

Her hobbies included the family vegetable garden, knitting, and crocheting. She liked watching football and going to school baseball and football games when her son, Jon, played. She attended school and Upstage Players theater productions in which her daughter, Regina, participated. Going to the North Haverhill fair was a tradition every summer, where of course you see your friends once a year if you don’t see them anywhere else. Oxen and horse pulling were two of her favorite events.

She moved to Littleton in 1984. She bought her tidy little home on Highland Avenue, which became the perfect neighborhood for her. With great care and effort in the front yard she made it one of the sweetest-looking front yards on the street. The old apple trees in the front and back yard provided apples for many delicious pies she baked for friends and family. The drops provided sustenance for deer who cautiously came near her home.

Joan became Mama Joan to her step grandchildren, Brandon and Meg Dexter. She was very close with her good friend’s children, Benjamin, Edward, and Sam Natti. She watched them grow up into the amazing people they have become. Sandy Natti was her travel companion on adventures far beyond New Hampshire. The ladies traveled to Hawaii, the Dominican Republic, and Grand Cayman Islands.

Finally, Joan had three granddaughters of her own. Cassie Ghaznavi lives with her husband, Umer, in California. Courtney Bowler lives with her husband, James Haskell, in Littleton. Ashley Bowler lives in New Jersey with her husband, Shaun Polhemus.

Joan was blessed with three beautiful great-granddaughters, Aspen and Juniper Polhemus, and Fern Bowler Haskell. She enjoyed their visits and the “grand dogs” who came along with them.

A cat lover, she doted on the many who were companions over the years in the little house. Joan proudly maintained her independence in her own home to age 83. She did it with both stubbornness and pride. It was not until she was 80 that she hired help for the lawn and shoveling snow off the porch roof. 

Joan’s intensely red hair was how she was recognized from afar. She was quick to correct people that it was natural color when they insisted it was haircoloring. Even into her 80s it remained red, but a shade softened with gray hair. She jaunted about in her little gray car to see friends at the Littleton Area Senior Center. To the end of her days, she always planned for dessert before she made plans for dinner. After all, life is short. At her age she did what children are not allowed: eat dessert first. 

Joan passed away peacefully in the Littleton Hospital hospice room on September 18, 2024, with Regina at her side. A celebration of life will be open to the public on Friday, October 18 at 3 pm at the Senior Center on Riverglen Lane, Littleton.  In lieu of flowers, instead consider a memorial gift to Second Chance Animal Rescue, the Littleton Area Senior Center, or a charitable organization of your choice.