Joan Chatel Vaber, 85, of Glendale Middle Road in Stockbridge, died Saturday at her home. She was born in Pittsfield on November 4, 1930, the daughter of Theodore Chatel and Beatrice Hopkins Chatel. She was a graduate of the former Williams High School in Stockbridge and attended Boston University. Joan was an avid painter and collector of miniature doll houses and furnishings. In her later years, she worked in the gift shop at the Shrine of the Divine Mercy in Stockbridge. Her husband, Alan D. Vaber, whom she married in 1976, died in 2001. Besides her husband, she was predeceased by her sister, Lois C. Martin. She leaves her son, Steven Thomas Shaker and his wife, Cathy of Windermere, FL; two daughters: Elizabeth Hopkins Shaker and her husband, Dr. Alan Inglis, of Great Barrington, and Andrea Peters Shaker and her husband, James D. Kiggen, of Stockbridge; and two grandchildren: Mary Elizabeth Beatrice Kiggen and Alexandra Dunbar Kiggen. A private service will be held at the convenience of the family. Those wishing may make donations to the MSPCA-Angell Animal Medical Center at 350 South Huntington Ave. Boston, MA 02130.

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