Joan Florence Wilson died at the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington on July 29, 2017. She was 63.
Born in Rockville Centre on January 16, 1954, she was the daughter of the late Robert and Ruth (Kearney) Wilson. On October 22, 1988, she married John B. Gallagher in Rockville Centre.
She graduated from Sacred Heart Academy in Hempstead and then earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from the College of New Rochelle, and a master’s degree in finance from Iona College. For the next 30 years, she worked on Wall Street as a bond broker, retiring from Bank of America in 2005.
After moving to the Mad River Valley, she and her husband founded the Waitsfield Wine Shoppe on Main Street in December 2006. This was a natural segue for Ms. Wilson, whose father was a wine importer when she was younger. This gave her the ability to ask many questions and sample a wide variety of wines. She had attained a level 3 certification through the Court of Master Sommeliers in London and she was also certified by the Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET) in London.
The store was acclaimed to have more than 1,000 different wines and 350 different craft beers, giving them the distinction of having one of the largest selections in the state.
In her leisure time, she enjoyed traveling when she had a chance, golf, bicycling and returning to Manhattan to visit.
Ms. Wilson is survived by her husband of 29 years, John B. Gallagher of Waitsfield; a sister, Ann Tulley of California; and two nephews and a niece.
A funeral service was planned for August 7 at Our Lady of the Snows Church in Waitsfield, Vermont. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of the Perkins-Parker Funeral Home in Waterbury, Vermont. Memorial donations may be made to St. Jude Children’s Hospital, stjude.org.
Online condolences made at perkinsparker.com or the funeral home’s Facebook page.
on Aug 3, 2017