In Memoriam

Joanne Downing Giangreco
Class of '48

Joanne Downing Giangreco, a teacher and librarian who was known in area social and athletic circles, died Monday at her winter home in Fort Myers, FL. She was 82.

Born in Buffalo, NY, she graduated from Bennett High School in 1945 and the University of Buffalo in 1950. A member of the SJC Class of 1948, she played basketball and hosted a radio talk show while a student in Emmitsburg.

She developed a lifelong love of sports and competition, winning an AAU swimming championship in high school. Later, she played racquetball at the Buffalo Athletic Club, often beating older, male competitors.

As a lifeguard at South Park pool in 1945, Mrs. Giangreco performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on a 2-year-old boy, saving his life after he fell and struck his head in a wading pool. She also taught physical education at South Park High School and was a librarian at Bishop Neumann High School.

A lifelong Democrat, she appeared on WBENTV in 1952 to advocate the election of Adlai Stevenson as president. Her political inclinations came naturally, since her father, Francis J. Downing, was executive director of the Buffalo-area Emergency Relief Bureau and the Works Progress Administration under President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

An avid golfer, Joanne scored holes-in- one at both of the clubs to which she belonged—Cherry Hill Club in Ridgeway, Ont., in 1973, and the Forest in Fort Myers in 1994. She won dozens of golf and bowling tournaments throughout Western New York.

She served as president of the Buffalo Inter-Club Women’s Bowling Association, was a founding member of St. Gregory the Great Catholic Church in Amherst, NY, was secretary of the St. Gregory Home School Association and chairwoman of Ladies Golf at Cherry Hill. She volunteered for the American Cancer Society and was active in Girl Scouts.

She also maintained a home in Ridgeway, NY. Her love of travel took her to Europe, Asia, Central America, Australia and New Zealand.

Her husband, Joseph, died in 2001. She is survived by three sons, Mark F., Thomas J. and Peter A.; two daughters, Gina G. Pelletier and Judith A. Johnson; four brothers, John F. Downing, Robert F. Downing, Franklin G. Downing and Thomas J. Downing; and two sisters, Suzanne Runyan and Maureen Murray.

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