Joanne Assante

Joanne Assante (nee Defino), born on July 8, 1937, to Angelina Defino (nee Magliochetti) and Nicholas Defino in Bound Brook, NJ, passed away peacefully on March 31, 2024. Joanne grew up in Middlesex, NJ, and attended Bound Brook High School. She graduated from Centenary College and embarked on a career as an executive assistant at several Fortune 500 companies, culminating in her retirement from AT&T.  Joanne lived in Middlesex Borough until marrying Leonard Assante, when she moved to Martinsville.  Joanne and Len retired to St. Michaels, Maryland and returned to New Jersey to be with extended family in later years.

Joanne exhibited a number of talents including needlework, painting, making handmade cards, birthday greetings, and Christmas tags which she generously shared with friends and family.  Her creativity extended beyond her professional and artistic endeavors. She enjoyed collecting and restoring old furniture, a passion that reflected her love for craftsmanship and history. She paid great attention to detail when restoring antique pieces.

Joanne was a true renaissance woman who tended to eschew many of the modern conveniences.  She refused to get a smartphone.  She preferred using her landline and scheduled weekly calls with friends and family to check in and let them know she was thinking about them.  Whereas most people might send links of information via email or text, Joanne would carefully clip articles from the Sunday paper or pull from her archives of 1950’s tutorials and send a note via the U.S. Postal Service with the information she thought the intended recipient would enjoy. In her world cash was king and ATMs and credit cards were only used as a last resort.

Joanne was predeceased by her loving husband, Len Assante, with whom she shared over 30 years of marriage.  Joanne is survived by her devoted sister Angela Herrmann, brother-in-law Eric, stepdaughters Linda Carrasco (Marc) and Lisa Assante (Michael Carmine), nephew William Herrmann, niece Karin Hanlon (Daniel), granddaughters Sarah and Maya Carrasco, and Kaleigh Carmine, great-nephews Nicholas Herrmann and Dever Hanlon, and her great-niece Ella Hanlon.  Her legacy of kindness, creativity, and dedication will be cherished by all who were fortunate enough to know her.

A memorial service in honor of Joanne Assante will be held on April 13, 2024, at 10:30 AM at the East Millstone United Methodist Church at 6 Elm Street in Somerset, NJ. In lieu of flowers, donations to the East Millstone United Methodist Church at P.O. Box 2034, Somerset, NJ 08873 are appreciated.

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