Dexter – Joan Theresa (Gilbert) Downar, 90, passed away on October 31, 2026. She was born on May 17, 1936, to Philip and Evelyn Gilbert.

Joan was a fighter and a survivor in many ways. Growing up in Dexter, she started babysitting, cleaning houses, and working in retail stores at an early age. Marriage took her to Knoxville, Tennessee, where she began raising three children while enduring domestic violence. Eventually she escaped that abusive relationship by packing her children into a car and driving back to her hometown to start anew. Many years later, she showed similar fortitude when she quit smoking, an accomplishment she celebrated annually on the anniversary of her last cigarette. These kinds of courage and resilience were hallmarks of her life.

Joan loved animals. She was best known for raising rabbits, including Flemish Giants and Jersey Woolies, and was a member of the Maine State Rabbit Breeders Association. But she also raised goats and had many household pets over the years, including special dogs Beau and Max, sassy cats Sammy and Silly Sally Sue, and dozens of porch spiders she always named “Sedgwick.”

Joan also enjoyed tending to her vegetable gardens. Her granddaughters loved when she would hook a little red trailer up behind her tractor, take them for rides, and feed them tomatoes and cucumbers fresh off the vine. She always grew Halloween pumpkins for them, except for one year when they didn’t grow, so she secretly bought pumpkins at the store and placed them in the pumpkin patch for her granddaughters to “pick.”

Many things brought Joan joy: traveling with her later-in-life love Bill, going out “bebopping” with her friends, wearing clothes and shoes that didn’t match, volunteering at the Dexter Historical Society, and making the donkeys bray any time she visited a farm or a zoo. But above all, she treasured the time she spent with her family, who brought her great happiness throughout her life and who will miss her dearly.

She is survived by her son, Paul Smith and his wife, ChunHwa, of Virginia; her daughters, Kim Ellms and her husband, Chuck, of Dexter, and Geoff Mountain and her husband, Joe, of Dexter; her sister, Debbie Gilbert Chute of Kansas; her granddaughters, Maria Mountain of Tennessee, Jana Mountain of Dexter, and Mary Ellms and her husband, Joe, of Fairfield; her much-loved great-grandchildren Jameson, Isaac, and Vivienne; and many nieces and nephews.

Joan was predeceased by her husband, William Downar; her parents, Philip and Evelyn Gilbert; her sister, Louise Lee; her brother, Tom Gilbert; and her stepdaughter, Cissy Downar.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Joan's memory to the Dexter Historical Society or the Sunshine Club of Dexter. Services to be held privately.