Joan E. (Higgins) Pabley

Joan was married in Jaipur, India and travelled extensively to many countries. She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Louisville and her M.B.A. from Assumption College. She worked in the insurance industry first in Worcester and then in Sacramento, Calif. After moving back to the Worcester area, she helped to build her husband’s ophthalmology practice in Holden, Mass. and managed it for over 25 years. Joan loved the beauty of flowers and was born with a green thumb. She spent countless hours designing and tending to the English cottage-style landscape on her property in Paxton, and would happily give anyone a tour around her yard, pointing out the name and characteristics of each living thing she had planted. She also loved wooing the birds to her feeders. She relished any chance to visit her condo on the water in Jensen Beach, FL. Joan and Amrik moved there permanently in 2014, where she enjoyed the ocean breeze every night. Joan was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1999. Ten years after her yearlong treatment ended, she was diagnosed with metastasis of the disease, which she fought for more than seven years. She was a kind and loving woman, known for exhibiting grace and dignity throughout her illness. She is an inspiration to many family members and friends. Her family is grateful to the doctors, nurses and researchers in Massachusetts and Florida, whose care and innovative therapies helped to prolong her life.