PUNTA GORDA, Fla. – Joanna Ruth Berggren Dennis, 91, of Punta Gorda, Florida, and Waterville, Maine, died Sept. 6, 2022.

She was born on Jan. 23, 1931, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Henry and Mae Berggren. In her junior high and high school days, she was an ambitious swimmer, winning numerous state, New England and national competitions. Her high school year book notes that she was “rapidly developing into America’s finest mermaid!” She was invited by a prominent swim coach to train for the Olympics but she opted to go to college instead.

Joanna graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from Tufts University in June, 1952, and the following day married her first husband, David H. Lovejoy. She taught high school physical education, health and physiology for thirty years in California, Massachusetts, West Virginia, New York, New Jersey, and Maine. She left teaching and became a Realtor and real estate broker. She created Dennis and Beedy Real Estate in 1985 with her friend and partner, Pamela Beedy, and excelled in the real estate world.

Ever the educator, Joanna developed a real estate curriculum for a local college and taught courses for the National Association of Realtors. She was selected as the Realtor of the Year for the state of Maine by the Maine Association of Realtors and was named national Realtor of the Year by the National Association of Realtors in 1987. Joanna served on the Maine Real Estate Commission for two terms, and was the Chairman of the Commission during her second term.

Joanna was very proud to be one of the three founders of the Kennebec Valley Girls’ Club, which merged with the Boys’ Club shortly thereafter. She served on their board from 1976 to 1983.

Joanna was one of the two first women to join the Waterville Rotary Club, at a time when women were not really welcomed. (When the two women joined, two men quit the Club!) In 1992, she became the first woman President of that Club.

She retired to Florida with her second husband, Dr. Richard H. Dennis. From there, they traveled the world. They skied the Alps, visited Paris and Russia, passed through the Panama Canal, traveled the inside passage to Alaska, journeyed on the Orient Express, and many times sailed the Caribbean Sea in self-chartered boats with her “skipper” husband.

Joanna raised four children to be goodhearted, successful adults, and gloried in visits with their families in Florida and at her summer lake house in Maine.

Joanna was preceded in death by her husband of 32 years, Dr. Richard H. Dennis. She is survived by her children, Steven Carter-Lovejoy (Janice) of Richmond, Virginia; Kim Lovejoy of Punta Gorda, Florida; David Lovejoy (Mary Lello) of Temple, Maine; Blair Lovejoy of Punta Gorda, Florida; nine grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren; long-time family friend, Stephen Simcock of New York, NY; and her dear friend Barry Dasher of Punta Gorda, Florida.

She made it abundantly clear that she adored all of her children and their progeny, and they adored her too.