Former NFL coach Buddy Ryan's wife Joanie has died after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease.

She had been living in an assisted-care home in recent years. When reached by phone, Buddy Ryan said that her funeral would be held Tuesday.

"We've got folks around the house," he said.

The couple met in 1968 at the Bayside, NY, apartment both were living at when Buddy Ryan was serving as an assistant coach with the Jets. She was in unit 4F; he was in 4G. They married in 1970, and she followed him through his coaching career. They planned to retire to a 178-acre horse-and-cattle farm in Lawrenceburg, Ky. In 2003, Joan Ryan was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, a progressive brain disorder. There is no cure for the disease.

When Buddy could no longer care for her on his own, arrangements were made for Joanie at an assisted-living home in Louisville, Ky. Buddy sold their farm in Anderson County and moved to Shelbyville to be closer to her.

He named one of his horses "Bayside Girl" in honor of Joanie.

Buddy's son, Rex, the head coach of the Jets, lamented the effect of his stepmother's disease on their golden years.

"Your dreams are shattered, everything you've worked for," Rex Ryan told the Louisville Courier-Journal in 2006. "You planned on retiring to that farm and everything you saved for is shot."

Joan C Ryan