Obituary

Joan Ulip Rowan

Posted

Former longtime Rockville Centre resident Joan Ulip Rowan (nee Eiseman) died suddenly at her Smithtown home on Oct. 22. The cause of death was an aortic aneurysm. She was 73.

A native of Lynbrook who attended Malverne High School, at the time of her death Joan was married to Frank Rowan, who said he had known her when she was 15 and he was 17. Rowan said he made the mistake of introducing her to the first man she married, Frank Ulip, who died of an asthma attack in 1990. But Rowan said he and Joan remained friends and even occasionally socialized and they reconnected romantically in 1997, marrying a year later.

On their first date, Rowan recalled Joan wondering why they hadn’t realized all that they had together — the same background and very similar interests.

“She was my queen, I was her king,” said Rowan, describing her as energetic, always doing and going. The pair was active together in the German-American Steuben Society and Joan was starting to become involved in the Freemason organization, in which Frank Rowan was a longtime member.

Rowan also described his wife as a nature person who tended to as many as six birdfeeders in the vacation home they shared in the Poconos. He also said Joan, who was a Jones Beach model in her younger years, kept a meticulous home and loved to decorate it for any holiday. The couple had many plans that included travel.

In addition to Frank, Joan Rowan leaves behind her five children, Frank (Diane) Ulip; Larry (Debra) Ulip; Dean; Lynn Kelly (Walter) and Lorie Palk (Richard); her stepchildren, Janet Clarke (Joe); Carolyn Ritchie (Scott); Harold Rowan; Kristine Rowan (Erick) and Donna Rowan, in addition to 25 grandchildren and one great grandchild.