Joan Elizabeth Melcher Kark passed away after courageously battling an unexpected illness on May 16, 2025. Joan was born on April 21,1943, in New York to Theodore Van Kuyk and Leticia Van Kuyk (nee Passaro). Work brought her family to Washington, DC settling in Silver Spring, MD where she graduated from Northwood High School and earned a bachelor's degree from University of Maryland. While at UMD she was a proud member of the Alpha Xi Delta Sorority and the sweetheart of Sigma Chi and was always the life of the party. Some of Joan's most treasured friendships are those she had made in the early 1960's in high school and college and these friends remained close with and cherished by her for 64 years!

After graduation in 1964, Joan married to Albert "Mickey" Melcher and had two beautiful daughters, Connie and Elizabeth. With a college degree in art, Joan was an art teacher for a decade focused on troubled teens and helped many of them succeed beyond the classroom. She eventually left teaching to focus on being a full-time mom, her personal talent for art and dive into her passion for horses. In art, she excelled across several mediums including mosaic, stained glass, painting and jewelry. She also owned and raised 15 horses, 8 dogs, 15 barn cats and a Billy goat over the years. She competed in Equestrian Hunter/Jumper horse shows across the country with her daughters and her most beloved horse, Star.

In 1981, she started a new chapter as a single mom and combined her creativity, passion and big personality to starting a new career in sales. She flourished and broke sales records year after year, building a reputation as the best in class. After only 5 years in a new industry, she earned her company's highest honor as a Top Sales Award recipient and Keynote Speaker at a Nukote International sales meeting in Hawaii in 1986.

A greater highlight of 1986 was marrying her perfect other half, Rick Kark and they settled in Ben Oaks in Severna Park, MD. Joan introduced Rick to horses and hosting house parties, and she embraced his passion for boats with sailing adventures all over the Severn River and Chesapeake Bay on their sailboat, "Sea Foam II". After retiring from her illustrious career, Joan and Rick traded in their sailboat for a power boat, "Joan's Ark", to become snowbirds cruising the intercoastal from MD to Stuart, FL every winter. Travel was always a highlight in Joan's life, from traveling across the US, to exploring 8 countries throughout Europe and Asia, some of them multiple times.

In Florida she found an extraordinary group of friends who shared her passion for horses and boating and she looked forward to spending time with them every winter. With the support of this group, she continued to ride horses well into her 70's on her sweet, gentle, last beloved horse, Rush. It is worth noting that Joan loved and cared for her horses so well that both Star and Rush lived to be 35 years old, which filled her with much joy and pride.

Over the years Joan battled several serious health issues but fought (and beat!) them with vigor so she could be around to take care of those around her and celebrate their big milestones. She loved her family, friends and animals fiercely, with her biggest pride and joy being her close relationships with her grandchildren. Her favorite weeks of the year were the annual summer beach week vacations in Rehoboth DE and Thanksgiving at her daughter Elizabeth's house in Montclair, NJ. She loved staying in one house with Rick, her cousin Connie Sims, her daughters Connie and Elizabeth and all the grandchildren for those weeks of the year. When she wasn't with her family she loved to spend time gardening and designing a beautiful grotto in the forest behind their house.

Joan's larger than life personality and endless capacity for love will be deeply missed by all who knew her. She is survived by her loving husband, Rick Kark; children Connie Shillman (Ronnie) and Elizabeth Melcher (Corey Burchette); stepchildren Laurie Theis (Sheldon) and Brian Kark; five grandchildren Eli & Justin Shillman, Elsa & Benji Theis and Camden Burchette.

A celebration of life will be held on July 19, 2025 from 1:00 to 3:00pm, with a memorial service beginning at 1:30pm at Barranco Funeral Home, 495 Ritchie Hwy Severna Park, MD 21146. The family requests that in lieu of flowers you may make donations to the Maryland Horse Rescue or Gentle Giants Draft Horse Rescue of Mt Airy, MD.