Obituary of Joan Ulich

Joan (Marshall) Ulich, born in Boston in 1943, died on February 9th, 2019.  She is survived by her two children: Bob Ulich (Mary) of Alpharetta, GA; Debbie Ulich of Pembroke, and four grandchildren: Christopher Ulich of Boston, Ryan Tran-Ngoc of Boston, Victoria Pangia (Thomas) of Baltimore, MD;and Austin Ulich of Athens, GA.  She is also survived by her sister, Jeanne DePiano (Frank) of Andover, MA and Daytona Beach, FL. and her brother, Don Marshall (Kathy) of Palm Coast, FL, along with many nieces and nephews.

Growing up in the greater Boston area, Joan fell in loveand married Horst Ulich in 1960.  They moved to Pembroke in 1962 where she resided for the rest of her life.  She was a very active young mother and homemaker and worked as a waitress, sold Dutchmaidclothing, and eventually became a travel agent.  She founded and operated Pembroke Travel, Inc for nearly 25 years.  When that industry saw big changes, she merged her business with an agency in Boston and simultaneously pursued a second career selling real estate, which she enjoyed for the past 17 years.

Joan’s passion for travel spanned 40+ years and took her all over the world.  She’s led many groups on tours of Boston and New England, taken multiple groups of Boston College grad students on tours of Asia, and escorted dozens of other groups to places like the former USSR, China, Europe, South America and beyond.  Her most memorable excursions were always those with her family or her “travel buddies”.  Her favorite destination was undoubtedly Ireland.

She was a generous, giving person who was quick to help those in need.  A civic-minded woman with an entrepreneurial spirit, she was a president of the Pembroke Chamber of Commerce, co-chaired the Pembroke Arts Festival, and served on the Boards of the East Bridgewater and Bridgewater Savings Banks in various capacities for 33 years.

Joan had an abundance of friends that she valued greatly.  More than anything else in life, she lived for her family.  They rallied around her when she was diagnosed with cancer in October 2018. She foughtcancer like she lived her life – with admirable strength, tenacity, courage and energy.  She was able to defeat her rare aggressive cancer, but post-op complicationscaused her death.  That four month short journey has been detailed on www.caringbridge.org/visit/joanulich.

Visiting hours for Joan will be held at the Shepherd Funeral Home at 7 Mattakeesett St, Pembroke from 3-7 PM on Thurs, Feb 14th.  A memorial service will be held at the same location at 11 AM on Fri, Feb 15th.  Visit www.shepherdfuneralhome.com for more info.  In lieu of flowers, gifts may be made to Massachusetts General Hospital in memory of Joan Ulich at Massachusetts General Hospital, Development Office, 125 Nashua St, Suite 540, Boston, MA 02114 or via www.massgeneral.org/donate.