October 24, 1918 – September 24, 2014
M. Joan Bichan (née Heslip), daughter of Frank and Jean, brother of Jack, all predeceased, passed away peacefully, on September 24, 2014 at St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto, after a brief illness, at the age of 95. She was the beloved mother of David (Heather), and Dougal (Joyce, Linda), and the well-loved grandmother of Kyle (Jen) and Michael (Danielle), and the great-grandmother of Morgan, Kendall and Adam. She also leaves her niece, Susan Cameron (Rick) and her great nieces, Melissa (Ben) and Katie (David) and their children Hannah, Ian, Jackson and Sydney. Her extraordinary life included a long career beginning as a surgical nurse at Toronto General Hospital. She was particularly proud to have served as a nurse in the Royal Canadian Navy, in England, during WWII. She became a nursing administrator and ended her working career as Director of Nursing at the General and Marine Hospital in Collingwood. In her own words, she then “leapt into retirement” and became a moving force in the cultural life of Collingwood. She was a founding member of the Landscape School of Painting, Life Long Learning, and active in several other organizations. With her geologist husband, Jim, who predeceased her, and their young children, she had lived all over Canada, as well as in two countries of Africa. Wherever she found herself, she rolled up her sleeves and helped out, taught first aid to local groups of women, and threw herself into community life, such as the Lusaka Little Theatre Company. In 1969, she purchased a small cottage on Manitoulin Island and proceeded to expand it into a personal paradise, where she spent six months of every year of her retirement. She walked across England, at age 78, with her long-time friend, Doris Calvery, and drove her grandsons around Scotland for an encore. She was a force of nature, feisty, cherished by many, and will be greatly missed, by all who knew her, for her intelligence, curiosity, wit, boundless energy, her paintings, her pies, and, of course, her knitting. She will be buried in Creemore Union Cemetary beside her brother Jack and his wife Winona. She requested that her funeral be for the immediate family only, and that a Celebration of Life, for anyone who knew her, be held soon after. Details to follow.
