Joanne Carlson

Joanne Darline Carlson, age 78 of Marathon, passed away peacefully at her home on January 6, 2023 after a battle with cancer. Joanne was born in 1945, in Rockford, IL  to the late James Patrick and Emma Darline.

Joanne moved from Rockford to the Washington, D.C. area in the mid 1960’s and worked as an X-ray technician at Georgetown, University Hospital. In the early 1970’s, Joanne moved to suburban Maryland, and made a career change. She started a career in real estate, and served as the President of the Montgomery County,MD Board of Realtors during that time. While living in Maryland, she traveled frequently to a 2nd home in the Florida Keys, ultimately making her permanent home in the Florida paradise.

Joanne is survived by her husband Carl, whom she met in Marathon in 2013. Together, they spent the last 10 years enjoying life in the Keys by boating, golfing, and singing karaoke, as well as being known for dancing the night away. Joanne was a vibrant, generous and colorful woman, who also enjoyed tap dancing, teaching water aerobics, and was quite the Mahjong competitor.

Joanne is survived by her brothers, Thomas and Gerald, and by her son Stephan, and grand-children Shane and Brooke. Joanne often had her grand-daughter Brooke come to visit in the Keys, where she learned to scuba dive, and those visits helped inspire Brooke to become a Marine Biologist.

Joanne’s family will fondly remember the way she would comically mis-pronounce certain brand names or foods, and will be left to wonder whether she always did so intentionally, just to get a laugh out of them.

Joanne will be missed, and will be well remembered as a fun loving, kind and good friend, mother and wife whose joyfulness was contagious.