Joanne L. Aleksiewicz

Cottonwood AZ Joanne L. Aleksiewicz, 87, died peacefully at Cottonwood Village on Thursday, April 13. She was born in Barre, VT to Philip and Irene (Fournier) LaPerle. The oldest of nine children, she was raised on a farm in Walden Heights before moving to the family dairy farm in Randolph Center. She then moved to Brattleboro, VT in 1947 to attend the Thompson School of Nursing, from where she graduated as an LPN in 1949. In 1967 the family moved to Turners Falls, MA where they resided until their move to Cottonwood in 1981. During her extended nursing career she worked at the Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, the Franklin Nursing Home in Greenfield, MA, and in 1982 joined the staff at Verde Valley Medical Center in Cottonwood until her semi retirement, after which she worked part-time for Verde Valley Home Health for 4 years before full retirement. On August 26, 1950, in Randolph, VT she married Henry J. Aleksiewicz who predeceased her on April 1, 2002. She leaves two sons, Matthew Aleksiewicz of Cottonwood who was her primary caregiver, Mark Aleksiewicz of Montague, MA; four daughters, Linda Grout of Brattleboro, VT, Christine Wilhelm of Cleveland, OH, Mary Ellen Detar of Florence, OR and Melissa Prestinario of San Jose, CA. Her son Gary Aleksiewicz of Mayapur, India predeceased her in 2010. She leaves 13 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren. She also leaves two sisters, Beatrice Griswold of CT, and Pauline Hill of Maryland; two brothers, Norbert LaPerle of Bradford, VT and John LaPerle of Bennington, VT. Her brothers Raymond, Leonard, Ferdinand, and her sister Vivian all predeceased her. A memorial service will be conducted at the chapel at the Vermont Veteran\u0027s Memorial Cemetery in Randolph Center and her ashes will be interred there next to her husband on a date in late summer to be announced by the family.