Obituary of Joan Kathleen McFarland

March 30, 1921 - December 28, 2021

Joan Kathleen McFarland. Age 100 of Riverview.

Loving mother of Judy (Dennis) Cousino, Greg(Darlene) McFarland, Mary Haidinger, and Brent (Nancy) McFarland. Dearest grandmother of  Chad Cousino, Todd (Wendy) Cousino, Stacy (Jason) Folgmann, Greg (Charlotte) McFarland, Christie (David) Roussey, Michelle (Kevin) Paden, Ryan Haidinger, Brooke(Anthony) Scharff, and  Nicole (Chris) Hughes. Also survived by 16 great grandchildren. Dear Sister of James (Dolores) Reese. Preceded in death by her parents; Francis and Josephine Reese; husband Ernest, son; Robert Nelson McFarland, sister Jane Flanigan, and brother Richard Reese.

Family Tribute (Originally Written for The News Herald) 

A real-life Rosie the Riveter, who grew up during the Great Depression, Joan McFarland celebrated her 100th birthday March 30 with well-wishers and a drive-by parade at Aerius Health Center in Riverview.

McFarland, who credits Pond’s moisturizing cream with her longevity, has survived good times and bad, losing her first-born child, Bobby, to leukemia when he was 7, and running the family’s party store in Southgate after she became a widow five decades ago.

Although she did many different things during her lifetime, Joan McFarland said her husband and her five children were the best and most important part of her life.

Her daughter, Judy Cousino, 74, of Brownstown Township, said her mother set a goal on her 75th birthday to live to be a hundred. She said it helps that longevity runs in her mother’s family, with aunts living to ages 96 and 98, her father living to be 80, and her mother living to be 77 years old.Joan McFarland’s grandson, Todd Cousino of New Boston, said she is a loving and carrying person.

“She’s very optimistic,” he said. “Everything in life is beautiful to her.”

Todd Cousino said knitting was his grandmother’s main hobby. Her great-granddaughter, Delaney Cousino, 15, of New Boston, said her great-grandmother is an optimism person.

“She loved everything,” she said. “I definitely learned things from her about life.” Joan McFarland’s son, Greg McFarland, 69, of Woodhaven, said she was strict, but admits that there were times during his youth when she needed to be firm with him.

He said he worked many hours in the family’s business, Stop-n-Go Party Store on Dix Road in Southgate. Joan McFarland’s youngest son, Brent McFarland, 61, of Allen Park, said he went to work in the family store at age 10 when his older brother Greg went into the Army. He said his mother was a devout Catholic.

Greg McFarland said that for many years, his mother would go to St. Pius Church in Southgate on Monday morning to help count the offering from the weekend services. “She was always grounded in her neighborhood and her church,” he said.

Greg McFarland said his mother was born in Canton, Ohio, with her family moving to Ecorse, Mich., in 1933, when her father got a job at Great Lakes Steel at the height of the Great Depression.

He said his mother graduated from Ecorse High School, where she was considered the class artist. She was married at age 20, but a week after their wedding, Pearl Harbor was attacked, ushering the United States into World War II.

“Within a month, my dad was gone, and she didn’t see him until 1945,” Greg McFarland said. “So, she was a newlywed that was by herself.”

During WWII, he said she worked for Ford building aircraft engines.

“She’s a Rosie,” Greg McFarland said proudly. “She’s lived a long life, that’s for sure.”

After the war, in 1947, his parents bought their first house in Lincoln Park. In 1966, they bought a new house in Southgate. A few years after that, he said his parents bought the party store. His father continued to sell insurance, as well, until he got sick and died at 51, leaving Joan a widow.“She’s had a good life, but she’s also had some rough stretches,” Greg McFarland said.

Daughter-in-law Nancy McFarland of Allen Park said her mother-in-law loves her family. “She’s a very caring person,” she said. “She has been very loving, just like my own mother.” Nancy McFarland said her mother-in-law’s vitamin usage no doubt contributed to her longevity.

“Oh, my God, she’s big on taking vitamins,” she said. Judy Cousino said her mother has always eaten her vegetables, which she believes contributed to her longevity, as well. Linda Armstrong, Nancy McFarland’s sister, said Joan McFarland has a remarkable memory for her age.

“I thought in her old age, she would forget me, but as soon as I walked into her room, she remembered me,” she said. “She has a memory that I cannot believe for her age – it puts me to shame!”