Joan Cirillo

CIRILLO, Joan Morgan —Jan. 23, 1930
--Feb.27, 2010 Joan filled our lives to the brim—with
a radiant, irrepressible smile, a quick and irreverent sense
of humor and a boundless zest for life. She was a loving,
constant mother, a loyal, devoted friend, a news and
political junkie, an undaunted liberal, consummate reader
and the best wife-friend-life partner a man could ask for.
Wife, mother, grandmother, sister and aunt, Joan was
an art lover, jazz fan, insatiable reader, superb and invent-
tive cook, relaxed and gracious hostess and a life-long
collector of friends. She delighted in her work on the
public relations desk at the Cheekwood Fine Arts Center
during the heady days of innovative Director Kevin
Grogran when brought art programs like Grandma Moses,
the Southern Impressionists, Remington and the cowboys,
Harlem Renaissance, and the iconic photography of Life Magazine to Cheekwood.
Vibrantly alive, a passionate believer in The American
Dream, Joan wanted answers to the curious, mystifying
turns of the human experience. And, as all of her friends
know, she wanted those answers now! Joan was,
unambiguously and emphatically, a liberal in the fullest,
richest understanding of that much-libeled word. She
was big-hearted, compassionate, occasionally feisty
and always generous of spirit.
Joan was a great fan of Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett,
Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, the hapless and
hopeless Chicago Cubs and a grandma groupie of "I'm
on Fire" Bruce Springsteen.
Nashville music fans will remember with pleasure sultry Jazz
Sundays on the back lawn at Cheekwood, a collaborative
effort of Joan, her buddies at WMOT and an array of
Nashville's finest jazz musicians.
Later Joan enjoying working with Barbara Kurland in
Barbara's "Strange & Wonderful Things" shop in Franklin.
Joan has slipped away from us now, but we'll always see
her in the middle of a noisy, animated conversation…
or curled up in the leather chair reading the latest Philip
Roth or Ian McEwan…or waiting in the crisp white-on-
-white back room of Carluccio's in Leslie's neighborhood
in London, waiting for grandsons Evan and Theo to come
bounding in shouting "Grandma! Grandma!" in their posh
London accents…or walking along the dunes at Wellfleet-
by-the-Sea on Cape Cod, turning impatiently every now
and then, waiting for the rest of us to catch up.
Lee and the children, Chip, Diane and Leslie will borrow
a lovely tradition from their Jewish friends and sit Shiva
with a hint of an Irish wake welcoming friends Thursday
and Friday evenings after 5 pm, and Saturday and Sunday afternoons, March 4th and 5th in Joan's amiable, eclectic home in the Belle Meade Highlands condominium
complex, 21 Vaughns Gap Road, apartment 56 in Building D.
Please park in an unnumbered space…and bring along a fun story
about this high-spirited lady! People interested in a Memorial
might consider Suzanne's Friends—For Life, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, or your local food bank program.