Joan E. ‘Nanny’ (Liner) Strattman

EAST CANAAN — Joan E. “Nanny” (Liner) Strattman, 84, passed on surrounded by her family on the morning of July 1, 2020, at her home after a long illness. Joan was the widow of Lee D. Strattman Sr.  

She was born Feb. 25, 1936, in Sharon, daughter of the late Leota (Weaver) and Edward Liner.

For nearly 40 years, Joan was employed at the former Kilbourne School in Southfield, Mass. 

She used her special talents assisting the students there on the night shift.  

An avid Red Sox fan, Joan also enjoyed flowers, gardening, and watching and taking care of the many birds that graced her home.  

Indeed, Joan’s true passion was her dedication and devotion to her entire family. 

Joan leaves behind her four sons, Lee D. “Chip” Strattman Jr. and his wife, Barbara, of East Canaan, Christopher Strattman and his wife, Diane, of North Canaan, Thomas “Otis” Strattman Sr. of East Canaan and Larry Strattman and his wife, Juliana, of Ashley Falls; her son-in-law, Brian Naventi of Lebanon, N.Y.; her grandchildren including Melissa and spouse Bobby, Thomas Jr., Cayla, Chad, Rebecca and spouse Colby, Jessie and spouse Jeremiah, Karrie, Chris Jr. and Lindsay; her great-grandchildren, Chloe, Nicholas, Lydia, Jillian Grace Leigh, Hayden, Finn, Allicia, Payton, Amelia and Mason.  

Joan was predeceased by her daughter, Jill; son, Joel; and brother, Lawrence.

Funeral services will be held at the convenience of the family.  

The family would like to thank Joan’s wonderful caregivers, Chrissy Reid and Patty MacDonald. 

Memorial donations may be sent to the American Cancer Society Central New England Region, 59 Bobala Road, Holyoke, MA 01040.  

Arrangements are under the care of the Newkirk-Palmer Funeral Home in North Canaan.

Latest News

South Kent School’s unofficial March reunion

Elmarko Jackson was named a 2023 McDonald’s All American in his senior year at South Kent School. He helped lead the Cardinals to a New England Prep School Athletic Conference (NEPSAC) AAA title victory and was recruited to play at the University of Kansas. This March he will play point guard for the Jayhawks when they enter the tournament as a No. 4 seed against (13) Samford University.

Riley Klein

SOUTH KENT — March Madness will feature seven former South Kent Cardinals who now play on Division 1 NCAA teams.

The top-tier high school basketball program will be well represented with graduates from each of the past three years heading to “The Big Dance.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Hotchkiss grads dancing with Yale

Nick Townsend helped Yale win the Ivy League.

Screenshot from ESPN+ Broadcast

LAKEVILLE — Yale University advanced to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament after a buzzer-beater win over Brown University in the Ivy League championship game Sunday, March 17.

On Yale’s roster this year are two graduates of The Hotchkiss School: Nick Townsend, class of ‘22, and Jack Molloy, class of ‘21. Townsend wears No. 42 and Molloy wears No. 33.

Keep ReadingShow less
Handbells of St. Andrew’s to ring out Easter morning

Anne Everett and Bonnie Rosborough wait their turn to sound notes as bell ringers practicing to take part in the Easter morning service at St. Andrew’s Church.

Kathryn Boughton

KENT—There will be a joyful noise in St. Andrew’s Church Easter morning when a set of handbells donated to the church some 40 years ago are used for the first time by a choir currently rehearsing with music director Susan Guse.

Guse said that the church got the valuable three-octave set when Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center closed in the late 1980s and the bells were donated to the church. “The center used the bells for music therapy for younger patients. Our priest then was chaplain there and when the center closed, he brought the bells here,” she explained.

Keep ReadingShow less
Picasso’s American debut was a financial flop
Picasso’s American debut was a financial flop
Penguin Random House

‘Picasso’s War” by Foreign Affairs senior editor Hugh Eakin, who has written about the art world for publications like The New York Review of Books, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and The New York Times, is not about Pablo Picasso’s time in Nazi-occupied Paris and being harassed by the Gestapo, nor about his 1937 oil painting “Guernica,” in response to the aerial bombing of civilians in the Basque town during the Spanish Civil War.

Instead, the Penguin Random House book’s subtitle makes a clearer statement of intent: “How Modern Art Came To America.” This war was not between military forces but a cultural war combating America’s distaste for the emerging modernism that had flourished in Europe in the early decades of the 20th century.

Keep ReadingShow less