JoAnn R. Shmukler

JoAnn R. Shmukler, 83, of West Chester, PA, passed away on June 5, 2022.

JoAnn was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of Rose and Kenneth Sweeney.  As a young girl her father took her to stock car races and other sporting events.  She lived near Wrigley Field and developed a lifelong love for baseball.  She attended a Catholic High School and met and married Nathan Shmukler while he was a student in Chicago.  They moved to West Chester and had four children.  JoAnn helped to create the first child day care center in the borough.  She returned to school when her oldest son was in high school to continue her education.  She grew to love all Philadelphia sports teams (though she still followed the Cubs) and had an amazing ability to remember details about players beyond the four professional teams in the city.  Friends and family would call her to ask trivia questions about sports figures.

Her true love was her family and no one loved being a mother and grandmother more.  She was everyone’s homeroom mother, den leader, and chaperone on school trips.  She always had a kind word and was very sweet unless someone made a derogatory remark about one of her children.  She and her husband fostered a young boy and one of her nephew’s came to stay for about a year.  JoAnn attended every sporting event involving her children.  She learned to drive in her late 20’s and was an apprehensive driver all of her life.  That didn’t stop her from driving to Gettysburg College to watch her oldest daughter play field hockey.  She never missed a home game.  Her children’s friends knew there was always a seat at the dinner table for them.  Neighborhood kids often gathered at the house where they always felt welcome.  She was a loving daughter and nursed her mother back to health after she suffered a serious illness.   

JoAnn died after a brief illness.  She was predeceased by her parents and brother Ronald.  She leaves behind her husband of 65 years, Dr. Nathan Shmukler and her four children, Dr. David Shmukler (Marie Howson), Lori Shmukler (William Janson), Steven Shmukler, Gail Patton (Jim Patton), her three grandchildren Lexy, Brody and Blake Patton, her dear cousin, Dody Ray, and nieces and nephews. 

Burial will be private.