Joan M. Flores

It is with great sadness that I announce the peaceful passing of my mom, Joan Flores, on February 27th, 2024. Joan was born on February 22nd, 1927, in the Bronx, to Marion and Jim McNulty. Joan attended Marymount College in Tarrytown, N.Y. By her second year, she decided she wanted to be a nun and joined the Religious Sacred Heart of Mary (RSHM). Joan attended Fordham University for her master’s in education and Spanish.

After completing her education, Joan’s life adventures began. Joan quickly ascended to becoming Mother Superior. She was sent to Bogota, Columbia when Gustavo Rojas Pinilla was President. Pinilla became very upset with the Convent when they advocated for the poor. One of the generals that knew the nuns gave a gun to Joan to protect the Convent School. Fortunately, Pinilla just ordered the Convent to leave the country calling the nuns a bunch of communists.

Her next assignment was Barcelona, Spain when Francisco Franco ruled Spain with an iron fist. Of course, this didn’t stop Joan advocating for the disadvantaged. She eventually came back to the states, where she was Mother Superior for Marymount School for Girls in Richmond, VA. At a time of segregation, she implemented a program to desegregate the school. Angry parents started pulling their daughters out of the school. Joan was recalled to a safer environment in the Bronx, N.Y.

The last assignment for Joan with RSHM was in Mexico City working with the poor. She decided to hang up her nun’s habit and begin a new phase in her life. Eventually, friends would introduce her to Edmundo Flores, who was a professor at the Autonomous National University of Mexico. They would get married on January 18th, 1970. Edmundo was asked to serve as Ambassador to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Rome, Italy by President Luis Echeverria. After his post in Italy, he was assigned as Ambassador to Cuba for the Mexican government. Joan and Edmundo would return to Mexico where he would serve as Director of the National Council of Science and Technology. Joan and Edmundo would travel the world representing Mexico.

Joan moved to Ridgewood, N.J., in 1986. She immediately fell in love with the town and people of Ridgewood. She became a parishioner at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel R.C. She would spend many years as a reader and a Eucharistic Minister. She would go out in the community to bring Communion, including the Cupola, the assisted living facility residence where she passed.

Joan is survived by her daughter, Marion (Maya) Flores, and her adopted daughter Liza Flores Franco. Joan cherished Maya. Joan would spend her later years traveling with Maya on cruises in Europe. The love and friendship between the two were unmatched. Frequently, Joan would come down for a week or more and would talk on the phone many times a day. She will be missed and remembered for all her acts of kindness.

A wake will be held of Sunday, March 3rd at Feeney Funeral Home, located at 232 Franklin Avenue, in Ridgewood, N.J., from 2 p.m. until 5 p.m. Funeral Service will be at 10 a.m., March 4th at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel R.C., located at 1 Passaic St, in Ridgewood.

Please find the link to the recorded Funeral Mass here: https://www.olmcridgewood.com/worship/online-mass-livestream

In lieu of flowers, a donation to nokidhungry.org would be appreciated.