Joan Ann Davis Sorensen

Joan Ann Davis Sorensen, wife of R. Olof Sorensen, died at 4:00PM, Saturday, after a long struggle with Pancreatic cancer. Born in Baltimore, MD on May 29, 1939, Mrs. Sorensen graduated from Brooklyn Park High in Baltimore. The first in her family to attend a school of higher education, she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Western Maryland College, and after working a year at Enoch Pratt Library in Baltimore, was awarded a scholarship to attend Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, where she was awarded the Master of Library Science Degree. She returned to Baltimore as the Assistant Branch Librarian in several of Enoch Pratt’s branch libraries where she met her husband to be, Olof Sorensen. Later, Mrs. Sorensen was the Assistant Branch Manager in the Coney Island Branch of the Brooklyn, NY Public Library. Son Trygve was born in Brooklyn in 1967. After two years in Pennsylvania the family moved to Athens, Ohio, where Mrs. Sorensen had the opportunity to head the Department of Government Documents. With a move to Greenville, SC in 1974, Mrs. Sorensen was employed first, as Teen Librarian, then later in administrative positions with the Greenville County Library System. She was the Deputy Director, and twice Acting Director of the Greenville Co. Library System until her retirement in 2001.

Her parents, Charles Winfield Davis and Ruth Iona Crum Davis, her stepfather, George Wayne Baker, Sr. and a sister, Ruth Iona Davis Wheeler, a step-sister, Pauline Baker Stevens, and a step-brother, George Wayne Baker, Jr. preceded her in death. Living are two sisters, Mrs. Elizabeth Davis Walters of Baltimore, and Mrs. Susan Baker Tarr of Waynesboro, Pa., son Trygve and his wife Janet Sorensen and two grandchildren, Hannah and Christopher Sorensen, all of Weddington, NC and a third grandchild, Connor Sorensen of Charlotte.

A memorial service to celebrate the life of Joan Davis Sorensen will be held at 11:00 AM followed by a reception with the family on Thursday, May 17 at the Charles Ezra Daniel Memorial Chapel, Furman University.

In lieu of flowers, gifts may be given to pancreatic cancer research or a charity of your choice.