Joan Coldren Wentz died unexpectedly on August 22, 2011 the Flagstaff Medical Center.Joan was born in Denver, Colorado, on February 17, 1932.She was the daughter of Fred George Coldren and Sara Warren Coldren.

She is survived by her husband, Richard E. Wentz of Flagstaff, son, Reed Warren Alpert of New York City, daughter, Julie Wood, son-in-law, Warren Wood and two grandsons, Koby and Noah, all of Santa Barbara, California.

Joan graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a B.A. in philosophy from Stanford University and a master's degree in library science from the University of California at Berkeley.She married Bernard Alpert in 1954 and lived with her family in San Francisco.

As a Zen practitioner for over 40 years, Joan was a member of the San Francisco Zen Center, the Mountain View Zendo and studied and practiced at the Tassajara Zen Monastery.Since moving to Flagstaff in 2005, she practiced with the local Zen sangha, worked as a docent at the Museum of Northern Arizona and practiced with her husband in the liturgical and social life of the Church of the Epiphany, Episcopal.

Joan will be sorely missed by the friends and associates she loved in Arizona and California.In lieu of flowers, the family would suggest donations be made to the Joan Wentz Scholarship at the San Francisco Zen Center, 300 Page Street, San Francisco, CA 94102.

A service of memory and celebration will be held at the Church of the Epiphany, 423 N. Beaver Street, in Flagstaff, on Wednesday, August 31, 2011 at 2:30 p.m.