For more than two decades, Joan Wilcox Boliek, who died Wednesday at the age of 79, remembered the names of all of the guests who stayed at the Ghost Ranch Conference Center in Abiquiú.

Boliek, who worked as the registrar and assistant to the director at the ranch, greeted guests by hugging them and then saying, "Welcome home," according to her daughter, Mary Boliek, who grew up at the ranch. Over the years, Joan became one of the most recognizable faces at the ranch.

"She is probably the single most revered person who worked out there," said Mary Ann Lundy, the interim director of the ranch. "She was revered as really the center of hospitality at the ranch."

Joan Boliek, who was born in Ohio, moved to the Ghost Ranch in 1972 with her husband, Chad, a Presbyterian minister. They raised their three children on the ranch, which they ran. Joan retired in 1993 but continued to volunteer her time in Abiquiú. She died of a stroke at Alta Vista Regional Hospital in Las Vegas, N.M. She is survived by her husband and daughters, Mary and Carol Boliek. A son, David Boliek, died at the ranch many years ago.

Many people who stayed at the ranch over the years remembered Joan Boliek as a dedicated woman who would strive to make everyone comfortable there, according to Mary Boliek and Lundy. Joan Boliek had guests' after-hour calls forwarded to her family's home on the ranch and would answer calls at all hours of the night, Mary Boliek said. When a guest forgot his or her alarm clock, Joan would loan one from her family's home.

Joan Boliek proved she could cope with just about anything over the years — including deaths at the ranch, an armed man who once showed up and failing electricity and pipes. She was an optimistic person who believed everything would always work out in the end.

"She really loved (Ghost Ranch)," Mary Boliek said. "It was her ministry."

Private memorial services are pending. In lieu of flowers, gifts may be made to the First United Presbyterian Church of Las Vegas or the Ghost Ranch Conference Center.

Contact Natalie Storey at 986-3026 or nstorey@sfnewmexican.com.