Falls Church resident Al Eisele, former press secretary for Vice President Walter Mondale, has published an online tribute to Mondale’s wife, Joan, who passed away at age 83 this week. Writing in the Huffington Post, he recalled that Ms. Mondale “was her husband’s equal partner in every office he held. But she made her own name as a patron and promoter of the arts, hence her nickname ‘Joan of Art.’”
He added, “She was the perfect diplomat, charming her hosts in Caracas and Rio de Janiero and Brazilia, especially when her then-17-year-old son, William, translated her arrival statement into Spanish in Caracas. She met with top artists in both countries and promised to discuss concerns they had about censorship of art and artists with the new presidents of both countries. She also said the vice president would soon make an official visit, which he did two weeks later.”
Ms. Mondale suffered from Alzheimer’s before passing.
