Joanne Theresa Scaturro

Joanne Theresa Scaturro, 72, of Raleigh, North Carolina passed away peacefully at Hospice Home on Wednesday, January 28, 2026, surrounded by loving family and friends. She is survived by her siblings: Louis Scaturro / Peggy Fleming of Ormond Beach, FL and Margaret Scaturro Heil, of Raleigh, NC; nieces and nephews: Siri Bird of New Orleans, LA; Micah Fleming of Ormond Beach, FL; Joseph Heil of Wichita, KS; and Andrew Heil and wife, Dana, of Durham, NC; great niece and nephews: Rosalind Heil of Durham, NC and Ronan / Shai Patel-Fleming of Ormond Beach, FL; and many adored extended family, cousins, and friends. She is preceded in death by her father and mother, Joseph and Antoinette Scaturro; nephew, Hamsun Lyon; and brother-in-law, Tim Heil.

She was born on February 6, 1953 in Manhattan, NY. Joanne was the first-born child of her parents, Joe and Ann. Living close to relatives in NYC, Joanne was adored by her grandparents and as a young child became extremely attached to her parents’ families; she developed a particularly strong attachment to her paternal grandfather who shared his love for music with Joanne. Her brother, Lou, was born in 1956 – although there are some stories indicating that Joanne did not appreciate being upstaged by her baby brother, Joanne and Lou soon became best friends for life. After living in California for a few years in the late 50s, Joanne’s family moved back to New York State to be closer to family. Another sibling, Margaret, arrived in 1960 and Joanne always referred to her as “my baby” – a sister friendship, strongly bonded forever.

In 1964, Joanne’s family settled in Potsdam, a small college town in northern NY, where Joanne attended St. Mary’s Elementary School and graduated from Potsdam Central High School in 1970. With her mom and brother in tow, Joanne attended the 1965 Beatles at Shea Stadium concert and was a devoted Beatlemaniac for life. An accomplished musician herself, Joanne played the piano and sang the blues like few could.While in high school, she was a vocalist for her band, Rainbow’s Promise, and made lifelong friends in the process.

From a young age, Joanne had a special gift for relating to children, and as a teenager, she volunteered at Head Start, a federally funded preschool program designed to meet the needs of low-income children. Joanne’s energetic, contagious sense of humor was admired by everyone, many stating that they felt like they were in the presence of a celebrity!

Joanne attended SUNY at Potsdam for a short time before transferring to Florida State University (FSU) to study music performance. Soon she found herself changing her area of study to a new major at FSU called Music Therapy, which eventually led her to her final major, Social Work. She graduated from FSU in December 1975 with a BS of Social Work and a Certification in School Social Work. Joanne worked as a school social worker in the Leon County, FL school system for many years. A friend once shared witnessing Joanne on more than one occasion, spending the entire night with an abused child or distraught parent, comforting them in her arms -- only to then get dressed early in the morning for work (without sleep) and continue her day caring for others. Children adored her – they looked forward to their time with Miss Joanne who always carried along a teddy bear when meeting with them. Soon, teddy bears became her signature – over the years, her collection became delightfully monumental!

In 1984, Joanne earned her Master of Social Work from FSU. She worked with children at the first school in Tallahassee, FL for students with emotional disabilities and severe emotional disturbance issues – she was responsible for creating a special prom, taking them bowling, and providing opportunities they had never had before to make loving and happy memories. Joanne helped create the Parent to Parent Program in FL offered by the Family Network on Disabilities (FND), and she was considered the Mother of the Statewide Heart Network for students with special needs, always offering a listening ear and a supportive response. She also developed Building Rainbows: Kids Helping Kids A Peer Tutor Program that Works, a curriculum that trains students to be mentors to other students.

Joanne became a training specialist at the Tallahassee Community College in the late 80s, delivering a curriculum that certified juvenile justice/child welfare professionals and developing specialized, in-service programs for topic areas identified by child welfare staff. Hired in 1991 by the Florida Department of Education, her supervisor always noted that Joanne brought the first sounds of laughter into the building! During her time there, Joanne became instrumental in the development of parent-professional communication training modules to address family involvement in school accountability as well as a curriculum for facilitating interagency communication.

After her sister lost her husband, Tim, in 1997, Joanne made the decision to move from FL to NC to be closer to her nephews, Joseph and Andrew. She lived with Margaret and her boys in Raleigh for 10 years, earning the title of The Queen of Funny (her favorite endorsement) and bringing joy to their home that will never be forgotten.

Joanne’s career in NC soared. From 1998 to 2013, Joanne served as a Program Consultant/Trainer for the Staff Development Office of Family Support and Child Welfare Services within the NC Division of Health and Human Services. She delivered and developed training that provided certification to child welfare workers in NC, and she acted as a liaison to the North Carolina Foster Parent Association, the Family Support Network, and Strong Able Youth Speaking Out (SaySo), a statewide association of youth aged 12-24 who are or have been in the out-of-home care system based in NC. Nancy Carter, co-owner and founder of Independent Living Resources (ILR), stated that “Joanne was a devoted advocate for youth in care and as such became involved with ILR by helping train caregivers, like-minded adults, and engaging in ILR life skills events. Joanne became one of the original supporters of ILR’s program, SaySo. Joanne showered love, support, humor, and professional development skills onto the young adults and other supporters of the program. In the eyes of SaySo youth leaders, Joanne infused her confidence in their abilities and was a true SaySo Superstar!” Joanne was passionate about training trainers – she was known and admired for both her expertise and humor used during training sessions; she created “Side Kicks” (with co-trainer, Donna Foster), a comedy duo who performed skits during workshops as a part of the teaching process.

For 35 years, Joanne designed and facilitated workshops in the areas of family-centered practice, interdisciplinary/family teaming, group work with children, interagency networking, team building, problem solving, meeting facilitation, goal setting, trust building, and conflict management. Joanne delivered many keynote addresses at conferences around the world. She was involved with non-profit organizations focused on children with emotional disabilities, and she assisted in educating the community about children’s strengths and needs. Joanne was showered with dozens of accolades throughout her career from Volunteer of the Year, Professional of the Year, and Outstanding Young Floridian to Outstanding Service and Special Recognition Awards. Joanne felt truly honored when she learned that the FND created the Joanne Scaturro Professional Leadership Award presented to professionals working in the disability community. The stated purpose of the award is to recognize and celebrate “the contributions of a professional partner who has worked tirelessly to create meaningful, systemic change.” Richard La Belle, CEO of FND, commented: “we felt that this encapsulated what Joanne was always doing.” Joanne was present at the FND ceremony in 2023 honoring one of the first recipients of this award.

A long-time colleague, Dr. David Fairbanks, recently remarked: “Joanne was widely recognized as a powerful and effective voice for family engagement and empowerment. Her professional career was deep and wide and long-lasting. She was highly intelligent, highly motivated and deeply loving. She had the rare ability to not only help families grow but also work at local, regional, state, and national levels to help other professionals strengthen their abilities to be more effective with families.”

Joanne loved to travel and always lit up when talking about her many trips to New Orleans (Café Du Monde and Preservation Hall were her favorite spots); she conducted workshops in Australia and England, adventures she always remembered with much fondness. When living in NC, she made many return trips to FL to visit brother, Lou, and sister-in-law, Peg; nieces, Micah and Siri; and great nephews, Ronan and Shai – these were precious times for Joanne, who always kept family close to her heart.

Joanne made the decision to retire from the State of NC in 2013 and move back to FL to care for her parents, a selfless act of love and devotion. After losing her Dad, Joanne and her Mom moved to Raleigh NC in 2014, making a final home together. They took care of each other for 12 years – Joanne made sure that her Mom was always engaged, taking her to Asheville (Joanne loved the Blue Ridge Mountains!) and Cherokee (to gamble, not one of Joanne’s favorite things!), watching movies together (one of Joanne’s favorite pastimes, especially Old Classics and Hallmark Christmas stories!), and hosting many fun-filled gatherings with family and friends. Joanne was particularly fond of Valentine’s Day. In February (and beyond), her home was filled with heart-marked decorations, dishware, and teddy bears (including a pink tree with Valentine’s decorations). Certainly, Joanne’s spirit, devotion, and laughter helped her Mom to be able to celebrate her 100th birthday last April – such a spectacular feat of love!

Joanne was a Master Storyteller – her written Valentine’s Day stories were beloved by all her knew her; family and friends could always count on joyfully passing the time while listening to Joanne tell stories aloud – how lucky everyone was to be in the presence of such twinkling energy. For decades, Joanne organized and created gorgeous scrapbooks, helping her family and friends to keep unique records of life’s experiences – such beautiful, heart-felt gifts given by Joanne. She also hand-crafted spectacular greeting cards – including the creation of 200 original invitations for a friend’s daughter’s wedding!

Recently, Joanne spent many years connecting with family in Italy and throughout the United States. She excitedly hosted her Italian cousins, Giuseppe and Margherita Ventimiglia in 2024 and 2025, and practiced her Italian daily, always learning and opening her heart to new experiences. Perhaps Joanne’s most beloved activity during the last 6 years was spending time with her great niece, Rozzie. “Granty” and Rozzie spent many hours in Fairyville, a mini village that Joanne set up and created in her home. How Rozzie loved her Granty…laughing, playing, hugging, creating – such joy, such life!

During her retirement, Joanne also volunteered and stayed active within her community. She co-chaired and participated in the NC Collaborative for Children, Youth and Families, continuing her passion for keeping children healthy, safe, and successful.

Children…Family…Friends…Music…Teddy Bears…Hearts,

A Lifetime Dedicated to Loving Others

Joanne Theresa Scaturro,

You Are Forever Loved

A Memorial / Celebration of Life for Joanne will be held on Friday, May 15th, from 1 - 3:30 pm at Raleigh Little Theatre.

If you plan to attend, please submit the form found at the link below.

https://forms.gle/6thKQGD4GMCr8KUc6

If coming from out of town, please fill out this form by Tuesday, April 21st.

If local, please fill out this form by Friday, May 1st.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to: the Family Network on Disabilities: https://bit.ly/3O32LSU or SaySo via the Children’s Home Society of NC: https://chsnc.org/donate/(Please designate your donation as contributing to the SaySo program.) NC Collaborative for Children, Youth, and Families, (NCCCYF)

Joanne Scaturro Helping Hands Fund, Supporting compassionate, collaborative efforts that benefit children, youth, and families.

https://donate.stripe.com/cNi9ATd6a5SfgME29bg3600 (Link to Joanne Scaturro Helping Hands where a donation can be made)