Sunday, January 9, 2022
I first met Joan in 1986 when I started work as a research secretary in Reproductive Biology at Western. Joan will be missed for her feisty views on life, death, the universe and our world. She truly disliked being called Phyllis, yet loved that her father created a new gladiolus named Phyllis after her. I will be forever grateful to Joan for two things in particular. Returning to Ontario from British Columbia after starting my own business and ultimately drowning in debt and jobless, Joan simply invited me to share her accommodation, which I did for over six years. We travelled Canada from east to west, ventured to Scotland and Mexico, then I settled back into the workaday world. The second and most significant gift was her badgering me into a tai chi open house in early September 2001. We both joined, but Joan stopped after a few months. As for me, all these years later I still do at least one set every day, and remain practising to this day with my first instructor, James. Joan loved a good argument, was opinionated in the extreme, but had a good and generous heart. She loved to travel to visit two of my sisters, and was a very special friend to my late sisters Lorraine and Bette. I will miss her and our daily conversations. I send sincere condolences to her daughters and grandchildren, all of whom she was so proud. Look out, Heaven, for Joan has arrived.
