Joan C. Thielemann, a Patapsco Middle School English teacher who left an indelible impression on her students, died Tuesday at Johns Hopkins Hospital of constrictive pericarditis. She was 82.
"She was terrific teacher for me, and I enjoyed being in her class. I learned so much," said Chuck Bragg, of his days when he was a student at Catonsville Junior High School.
"She taught me how to diagram sentences and it really helped me," said Mr. Bragg, who spent 45 years as an educator.
"I always had respect for her as a teacher and as a person," said Mr. Bragg, a retired Howard County high school math teacher and guidance counselor.
The daughter of James S. Clark, founder of what is now Clark Appler Optical, and Cora Appler Clark, Joan Brooke Clark was born and raised on Oak Drive in Catonsville.
After graduating from Catonsville High School in 1949, she entered the University of Maryland, College Park, where she majored in history education with a minor in English, and graduated in 1953.
While at Maryland, she met and fell in love with Henry "Hank" Thielemann whom she married in 1954. The couple moved in 1958 to Ellicott City.
Mrs. Thielemann began her teaching career in 1953 when she joined the faculty of Arbutus Junior High School. She later taught at Catonsville Junior High School until leaving in 1959 to raise her children. She returned to work in 1976 as an English teacher at Patapsco Middle School in Howard County, where she remained until retiring in 1986.
"Joan's love of history and English led her to a teaching career," said Katell Thielemann, a daughter-in-law, who lives in Ellicott City.
"One of her fondest memories was teaching English at Patapsco Middle School, where sentence diagraming became fun and was an art," she said. "Many years after her retirement, countless former students would volunteer that she had been the toughest yet best English teacher they ever had. Thanks to her, fewer sentences end in prepositions in Howard County."
"She was strict but never unreasonable. She always had a plan and there was no foolishness," said Mr. Bragg. "She was always student-oriented, but we had work to do. Her classes were very structured. We knew what to expect, and there was never any ambiguity."
Magaret F. "Peggy" Carter, who lives in Catonsville, was a former colleague who also taught at Catonsville Junior High.
"She was a great gal and an excellent teacher. She was very personable and liked the kids," said Mrs. Carter, who was an English and social studies teacher at the time, and later retired as a teleclass teacher for Baltimore County public schools.
Mrs. Thielemann, her husband and three of her children have built homes and reside at what is locally known as the Thielemann compound in Ellicott City, her daughter-in-law said.
While raising her four children, Mrs. Thielemann was an active member of First Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ellicott City. She also was a member of the nine-hole ladies team at Turf Valley Country Club and hosted many bridge parties through the years.
"More than 60 years ago, several of us got together and decided we wanted to learn how to play bridge, and through the years we've played lots of bridge," said Mrs. Carter. "And Joan was very good at it. She really enjoyed it."
Mrs. Thielemann had an outgoing and welcoming personality.
"Joan never met a stranger she could not talk to, even while riding the Metro in Paris," her daughter-in-law said. "To this day, cashiers at the Giant know everything about our lives."
Mrs. Thielemann and her husband, a retired businessman, enjoyed spending winters at a cottage on Captiva Island in Florida, where she particularly enjoyed watching sunsets.
An accomplished cook, Mrs. Thielemann was "always open to meeting and feeding new people — including countless strangers from all over the world — brought to the Thanksgiving, Christmas or Easter table by her children," said her daughter-in-law.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at her church, 3604 Chatham Road, Ellicott City.
In addition to her husband and daughter-in-law, Mrs. Thielemann is survived by two sons, Henry Clark Thielemann and James Scott Thielemann, both of Ellicott City; two daughters, Brooke Thielemann of Ellicott City and Page Thielemann Hubbard of Annapolis; and eight grandchildren.