Joanne Pateman

Born in 1947 and adopted at birth by Frank and Jean Vitelli. Joanne was brought up in South Philadelphia where a blond beautiful blue-eyed girl stood out. This was not the Main Line. Rumor had it that Uncle Bill ran the numbers and you could always place a bet at Aunt Rose’s diner on the corner. The wonderful smells from the Lebanese bakery were ever present and the adjacent shop had beautiful communion dresses for little girls that Joanne’s family could not afford.

Joanne was accepted at Girl’s High a school that opened her eyes to the world. She studied and learned to speak fluent French and Italian. She made friends from all walks of life. At 15, she modeled for the fashion pages of the Philadelphia newspapers but was soon spotted by agencies in New York. At 16, she came to New York to model for the summer.

The next year Joanne came back for good and started her first real career. Her clients included Revlon and Helena Rubinstein for hair and beauty. She met her future husband Michael at a photo shoot, they moved to Paris to live and work for a year.

Modeling was not something Joanne really loved but it paid well and the travel, the clothes, the beauty, and bond she made with the other girls, made it all very exciting. She always carried her little black sketchbooks, she drew everything around her: people, objects, places, she was an artist with a unique style, and she filled book after book with her observations. This was the beginning of her creative future.

Upon her return to New York, Joanne supported her husband starting a photo studio. Her husband’s business flourished and became successful. After giving birth to their son, Mark, she decided to go back to college at the School of Visual Arts. When she graduated, she was 9 months pregnant with her daughter and her 5 year-old son was screaming, “you go mom” from the balcony of Lincoln Center.

After her daughter Sophie was born Joanne went to work for CBS as a graphic designer. A new career and a new world to conquer. Next came art direction. She moved between advertising houses Doyle Dane Bernbach, Lord Geller Frederico, Needham Harper and Steers. In the tough world of advertising she worked as a group creative director on national television campaigns for IBM and Campbells Soup.

Joanne and her husband decided after 9-11 to move permanently to their house Southampton, NY house on Van Brunt St, which they had purchased in 1967. They loved the village and their neighbors. Joanne immersed herself in Southampton life. She entered the writing program at Southampton College and obtained her Masters Degree. This was her true love listening, talking to people, and writing. She loved telling stories, she loved life.

Joanne volunteered for the Parish Art Museum becoming very knowledgeable about all forms of art as a docent. She loved working for the Ladies Village Improvement Society in Easthampton in the book department. She was on the board of the Historical Museum for 10 years and started architectural walking tours that she organized for 6 years.

Joanne cherished writing her much-loved column for the Southampton Press and reading multiple emails from people telling her how she touched their lives and that they had memories brought back that they too had experienced what she had written. She was in multiple book groups and her writing group that met at the library. She loved her golf at Southampton Golf club and her passion as an equestrian was rewarded as local day champion at the Hampton Classic.

She continued to work, she continued to write, her husband filmed. They parented and then grand-parented. Joanne is survived by her husband Michael, her son Mark, her daughter Sophie and three amazing grandchildren Lucy, Cullen, and Cormac she will be really missed by everyone who knew her.