Joanne Prieur Obituary

Joanne Prieur
November 3, 1938 - November 5, 2023
An authentic and sterling citizen of San Francisco for 56 years, Joanne Alice Prieur has moved on to her next adventure. Her 85 years walking the planet is a mere fraction of the joy and inspiration she spread measured in time. Her spirit, wry commentary, smile and especially her laughter, animated every room and space she was in. She was the guest-and usually the host and chef-all of us wanted to be close to at every party, dinner or holiday.
Born in Boston, MA to Edward and Elizabeth (Stapley) Connell, Joanne moved to the Santa Cruz mountains and later to Palo Alto. She attended San Jose State and took her first teaching job in Tulare, CA. She married Bill Prieur of Santa Paula, CA in 1957 and, after a few years in Tulare and Hayward, they moved to San Francisco's Haight Ashbury in the "Summer of Love" (1967) buying and restoring their Victorian dream house over many years.
Joanne devoted the working part of her life to public education as did her husband Bill. She held many and various positions including teaching in a vocational training program at John O'Connell High School in the Mission, working as a program consultant for the Special Education Rehabilitation Services, writing federal Title One grants for student achievement while both training and supervising paraprofessionals in reading, evaluating San Francisco Unified District schools using the California Program Quality Review and volunteering as an English language teacher for the West Marin Literacy Progam.
However, Joanne's real passion was outside of her work pursuing and creating beauty, seeking adventure and spending time with family and friends. Whether the beauty was Inuit art (which she collected), the secret sauce over grilled pork at Chez Panisse (which she also made), the hand painted dial of an 18th-century Scottish clock or her freshly pruned Rhododendrons and picnics at the Arboretum, Joanne reveled in it. The stories of her camping journeys across western Europe in the sixties and seventies seeking antiques (especially clocks for repair and restoration and one particularly unique 1965 London cab which they shipped to the port of San Francisco), dining on cheap wine, bread and cheese and wandering through museums and parks with her husband Bill by her side are legendary. The pleasure and care Joanne took from and gave while being with her family and close friends especially planning Thanksgiving gatherings was deep and has left a signature mark on all of her loved ones.
Joanne is survived by her husband Bill, her niece Paige Connell-Hoffman and husband Peter (Quincy, CA), Esra Connell and wife Lethe (Taiwan), her brother Christopher Connell and wife Sara (Quincy, CA), her grandnephew and niece Mark Tauber and Julie Roley and their children Zoe and Finn Tauber (San Francisco) and a handful of nieces, nephews, other generations and wonderful friends across the United States. Her life and her move to what comes next is both richly remembered and deeply mourned by all of these beloved family and friends.