Joan Caryll Hoost was born in New York in 1939 and attended Sayville High School before entering Pembroke College in 1956. She graduated with a degree in American Civilization and spent several years as a teacher in New York and North Carolina before returning to live in Rhode Island, where she and her husband raised their three children. She has held leadership positions in the Junior League of Rhode Island, the Brown Alumnae Club of Kent County, and the Rhode Island chapter of the AAUW, among others.
