Joan Biggers
Born Barbara Joan Nevil Cobbold in Blackheath, London on December 21st, 1924 to Cicely Middleton Cobbold and Geoffrey W.N. Cobbold. Joan was educated at Sherborne School for Girls in Dorset and later graduated with a First Class Honors Degree in Physiology from London University. She then married, moved to Sydney, Australia, and began raising a family before returning to England seven years later. In 1959 she emigrated to the United States, living first near Philadelphia and later in Baltimore where she worked for the City as a social worker starting in 1966. In 1972, she moved north to Massachusetts, residing during the 1970’s in Marblehead, then in 1979 moving to North Weymouth, where she lived for over twenty years, prior to moving to Dedham. In 1979, she developed and directed the Department of Patient Representatives at the Boston’s Peter Bent Brigham Hospital [before its merger]. She was the founding president of the Massachusetts Patient Representatives Association. Shortly afterwards, in what she considered her most important life achievement, she founded the Hospitality Program in association with the Episcopal Archdiocese in Boston. In the over 25 years since it’s founding, the Hospitality Program (now called Hospitality Homes) has hosted thousands of families visiting their loved ones - patients at Boston area hospitals, by connecting them with volunteer host families. The program has achieved national acclaim including a story by Peter Jennings of ABC News in 1997. Joan received the South Shore News Woman of the Year award in 1991 two years after she retired. She was a loving mother, grandmother and dear friend to many. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Hospitality Homes, P.O. Box 15265, Boston, MA 02115. Joan is survived by Jennifer Biggers Wasserman and Peter Wasserman of Hopkinton, NH, Philippa Biggers and Robert Salzman of Wellesley, and David Biggers and Kathleen O’Connell of Canton; by nine grandchildren ages 10 to 18, and by her beloved sister Margaret Morgan of Ringwood, England. Services to be held on Wednesday, November 14th at the St. John the Evangelist, 172 Main St, in Hingham at 11:00 am with reception to follow.