Joan Ann Fairbanks Herrick Cauley
Joan Ann Fairbanks Herrick Cauley, formerly of Princeton, N.J., passed away on July 29, 2023.
Born on January 4, 1940, in Princeton, N.J., Joan attended Kindergarten and 1st grade at Stonybrook School, followed by a few years at Tapley School in Springfield, Mass., while her family cared for her paternal grandmother. The Herricks returned to Princeton, where Joan completed elementary through 8th grade at Valley Road School. She matriculated at Gill School in Bernardsville, N.J., for her high school studies, graduating in 1958. She attended Lasell Junior College in Newton, Mass., prior to transferring to the University of Miami (Fla.) in 1961, graduating with her Bachelor’s in Nursing in 1964.
In 1962, she met her future husband, Jerry Dean Cauley (Deep Run, NC), on a triple date in Miami. They were married in Princeton on June 20, 1964, early in Jerry’s U.S.A.F. career. Her mother, Ethel Herrick, was a nurse and modeled compassionate care as a four-year-old Joan accompanied her on home health visits in their community. Joan interned while in high school at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis, Mass., and during Jerry’s year in Vietnam, she worked as an E.R. nurse in both Princeton and Hyannis. She was an R.N. in various other healthcare settings and closed her professional life at Carle Clinic in Danville, Ill., retiring in 2002. Joan’s innate passion for unselfish care helped to define her life. She was present for friends and family in ways that reflected her greatest strengths, whether offering homemade meals and baked goods or her companionship with others in their joy and sadness.
After retiring to Sarasota, Fla., she found great joy in her volunteer service at Tidewell’s Sarasota Hospice House. In addition to Jerry, her husband of 59 years, Joan leaves her son, Darin Cauley (Christa Clumpner), of Chicago, and son, Dean Cauley, of Norfolk, Va.; her sister-in-law, Pam Herrick of Orleans, Mass., and two nephews: David Herrick of Orleans, Mass., and Thaddeus Herrick of Houston; and cousin Sally Ann Bowers Osgood of Titusville, Fla. She was preceded in death by her parents, Paul Fairbanks Herrick and Ethel Kleber Herrick of Hyannisport, Mass.; brother, Harry Kleber Herrick of Orleans; and cousin Bill Saunders of Trenton, N.J. Additionally, she leaves behind many Cauley family members who loved her dearly.
A memorial service will be held on August 5 at 11 a.m. at St. John’s United Methodist Church, Sarasota.
In lieu of flowers, gifts in memory of Joan may be made to Tidewell Foundation, 3550 Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, FL, 34239 (please note “Sarasota Hospice House” in the memo section of the check).
