Joan Hart

Joan Doris Hart, age 84, passed away on Friday, July 30, 2021.

Joan was born and raised in Blenheim, New Zealand on January 27, 1937 to Kawharu Pineaha "Ben" Potete and Jean Ethel Potete (nee Bright). She played the violin and enjoyed several sports including swimming and tennis.

In 1956 in Christchurch, New Zealand at the magnetic observatory Joan met an American scientist William "Bill" E. Hart who was working with Operation Deep Freeze in Antarctica. He returned to New Zealand in 1957 where Joan and he married. They returned to America to the Washington, D.C./Maryland area where they lived and raised their two children, Elizabeth and William, until 1977. In 1977 Joan and her family moved to the Mississippi Gulf Coast with the U.S. Naval Oceanographic Office [NAVO]. Joan has been a resident of Pass Christian since 1977.

Joan enjoyed playing golf and was a member of the Pass Christian Isles Golf Club where she met many lifelong friends. Joan was also an accomplished and competitive bridge player. She was a member of the Gulf Coast Bridge Association with many dear friends and achieved The American Contract Bridge League rank of Silver Life Master in 2015. She loved reading, her schnauzers, especially her granddogs, and her kitties.

She is preceded in death by her parents; husband, William Eugene Hart; son William Ben Hart; sister, Jocelyn "Jo" Chamberlain. Survivors include her daughter, Elizabeth Jean Hart Ishee (Calvin) of Pass Christian; daughter-in-law, Michele Hart of New Orleans; her five darling grandchildren, Brittany Elizabeth Hart, Jordan Andrew Hart, William Taylor Hart, Marianna Nicole Hart, Emma Grace Hart; sweet great-granddaughter, Evelyn Hart Lambert; dearest sister, Marie Kubiak (Jozef) of Christchurch, New Zealand; and much loved nieces and nephews Krysia Waaka, Joanna Leahy, Philip Kubiak, Antony Kubiak and John Kubiak of New Zealand.

In lieu of flowers please make donations to the Humane Society of South Mississippi [HSSM], Gulfport, Mississippi.

A celebration of life reception will be held at RIEMANN FAMILY FUNERAL HOME, 19130 Commission Rd. Long Beach, Mississippi on Saturday, August 14, 2021.

An online obituary may be viewed, and memories and photos shared at www.RiemannFamily.com