Joan H. Shimer

Joan Hersey Carr Shimer November 29th, 1927 August 7, 2019
Joan was born the eldest of three children to Robert and Jean Hersey of Spuyten Duyvel, New York. She attended high school at the Putney School and Riverdale Country Day, graduating from Mills College with a BA in Dance, Drama, and Music. She lived in numerous places, including San Francisco, San Rafael, and Cupertino, California; Putney and Hartford, VT; San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; New Haven and Middletown, CT; Cambridge, MA; NY, NY; and Randolph, NH.
Her spiritual life was strongly guided by Anthroposophy; she hosted a group exploring the works of Rudolph Steiner, and was a member of the Congregational Church of Guilford, VT. Joan lived her life with purpose and grace, and had numerous interests. She was a gardener; a harpist, recorder player, and member of the Hallowell singers; and was Executive Secretary of the Country Dance and Song Society, directing Family Week at Pinewoods Dance and Music camp. She enjoyed painting watercolors and attending writing classes to better record impressions of her life. She was the Executive Secretary of the Teacher Training Institute for Waldorf Education originally headquartered at Adelphi University. She worked in personnel at Digital Equipment, and under Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak at Apple Computer in the 1980's. She studied Spacial Dynamics, receiving a teaching degree at age 70; and taught both "Body Recall" classes to adults, and Movement Games to pre-schoolers. With Valerie Baadh she co-authored a book "Games Children Sing and Play". She was a founding member of the Inner Fire Community of Vermont.
Joan was pre-deceased by her husband and love of her life, John Asa (Jack) Shimer. She is survived by her brother Robert Hersey and wife Susan, her brother Tim Hersey and wife Jean, her son Jesse Carr and his partner Kathy Mazziott, grandson Galen Carr and his wife Jennifer Allaire, greatgrandchildren Miles and Zoe Carr, her son Jeffrey Carr and wife Shari, and her grandson Zachary.
A memorial service will be held at the Guilford Community Church on Saturday, August 17th at 2:00PM. In lieu of flowers, contributions are welcome to the Upper Valley Waldorf School in Hartford, Vermont.