Joan Brecker, 87, of Vero Beach, passed away on Nov. 15, 2014, due to complications from a stroke.
She is survived by her children, Pamela Brecker Hendrickson (Douglas) of New York City, Jarvis Rowcliffe Brecker (Jennifer) of Portland, Ore., and Caroline Brecker Yenor and (Jon) of Riverside, Conn.; seven grandchildren and five nieces and nephews.
She was predeceased by her husband in 2005.
Brecker was born at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., the youngest of three devoted sisters that include the late Caroline Schaible and Marion Howard.
Her father, Rear Admiral Gilbert J. Rowcliffe, began his naval career as a White House Aid to Presidents Taft and Theodore Roosevelt and he later held a number of senior posts in the Navy including Judge Advocate General. Her mother, Marion (nee Leutze) was the daughter of Rear Admiral Eugene H.C. Leutze, sister of Rear Admiral Trevor Leutze, and the granddaughter of Emanuel Leutze, the German American history painter, best known for his works, “Washington Crossing the Delaware” and the fresco in the US Capitol Building “Westward the Course of the Empire Takes Its Way.”
Brecker graduated from George Washington University where she was a member of Kappa, Kappa Gamma. After graduating, she worked as a special education teacher for the Remedial Education Center in Washington D.C.
In 1957, she married Richard Lee Brecker, an advertising executive and former Foreign Service Officer and they resided for more than forty years in New York City and Nantucket. In 1990, they sold their New York apartment and moved to John’s Island in Vero Beach.
In New York, Brecker was an active volunteer as a member of the Junior League. An accomplished pianist and lover of music, she served many years as a member of the national Council of the Metropolitan Opera and served on the Auditions Committee.
She was also President of the Women of the Church of the Heavenly Rest, a member of the Altar Guild and the first female Warden of the Vestry. For her contributions to the Episcopal Church she was elected a Sister of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem in 1974.
In Nantucket she was a Governor of the Nantucket Yacht Club, a member of the boards of the Sconset Casino, the Nantucket Historical Association and the Sconset Trust. She was also a Trustee of the Sconset Chapel. In Vero Beach she was President of the John’s Island Garden Club.
A Memorial Service will be held on July 11, 2015 at 4:30 p.m. in the Sconset Chapel, Siasconset, Mass. In lieu of flowers, contributions in her memory may be sent to the Sconset Trust, Box 821, Siasconset, MA 02564 or to the Naval War College Foundation, 686 Cushing Road, Newport, Rhode Island 02841-1213.
The family wishes to extend its gratitude to Gabriela Arnold, Dr. Skip Franco, Lisa Wolf, and Kathy and Gerry Saxe.