NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Joan Simone Gniadek, 70, of East Main Street died Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2016, at Williamstown Commons after a long battle with cancer and congestive heart failure.

Born in New Orleans on Dec. 13, 1945, daughter of Simon and Helen Lapinsky, she attended Notre Dame Academy and graduated magna cum laude in 1967 from Framingham State College. She lived in Worcester before settling in North Adams with her husband.

After college graduation, Mrs. Gniadek worked at Natick Research Labs developing food additives for the NASA space program. She had been employed by the former General Photo in Williamstown as a research chemist until she developed cancer in 1974.

She was a member of Court Margaret Number 629 Catholic Daughters of the Americas and was regent for several years. An avid gardener, she was a longtime member and president of the North Adams Garden Club and chaired the city's flower shows for 10 years. As a floral designer, she competed in many state flower shows and received many awards.

Mrs. Gniadek played an important role in many of the beautification projects that the North Adams Garden Club undertook throughout the city at the behest of Mayor John Barrett III. Perhaps the most visible is the Garden of Flowers Project to beautify Main Street with fresh island plantings and the Wayside Park Project, which converted the once blighted area near the Eclipse Mill on Union Street into the "Welcome to North Adams" floral park.

She will be especially remembered for her compassion for others, quick wit and spirit of adventure.

She and her husband, Joseph Gniadek, were married Nov. 18, 1967.
 
Besides her husband of 48 years, she leaves two sisters, Ruth Smith and her husband, Philip, of Foley, Ala., and Loretta Clayton of Saraland, Ala.; her uncle, Stanley C. Speer, and her aunt, Paulette Speer, both of Belchertown; her cousins, Paul Johnson of Holden, Janice Braley and her husband, David, of Ware, John Hunter and his wife, Jeannie, of Manassas, Va., and many nieces and nephews.

FUNERAL NOTICE — Funeral services for Mrs. Gniadek will be held Saturday, Feb. 27, at 10 a.m. at Flynn & Dagnoli-Montagna Home for Funerals, West Chapels, 521 West Main St., North Adams, followed by a Funeral Mass at 11 at St. Patrick's Church in Williamstown.

Burial will be Monday, Feb. 29, at 11 in Notre Dame Cemetery and Mausoleum at 163 Webster St., Worcester. Relatives and friends are welcome at the service and the reception at O'Connor's Restaurant in West Boylston immediately following.

Calling hours will be Friday, Feb. 26, from 4 to 7 at the funeral home. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations are suggested to the American Heart Association, to HospiceCare in the Berkshires or to the Second Floor Nursing Staff at Williamstown Commons for nursing uniforms through the funeral home.

The family would like to thank to the staff of Williamstown Commons and the staff and volunteers of HospiceCare in the Berkshires for their help and support.