Those who knew Joan will tell you she had a huge heart – full of love and compassion. And she had a deep sense of what was important, and what really didn’t matter.

Joan was born in Benwell in the west end of Newcastle in 1932, the youngest of 3 children. The family weren’t affluent, but there was always an abundance of love, so nothing else really mattered.
Along with her older sister, she was evacuated during the war and like many young school children found herself living away from home. For Joan, this meant living on a working farm in Cumbria, a very different environment for a little girl from the industrial environment of Newcastle at the time. It was a happy time for her, and she took to farming like a duck to water. So started a lifelong love of the countryside, of border collies (working sheep dogs), and freshly churned butter. The restrictions of war time rationing didn’t bite so hard when you had unlimited access to certain raw materials generously supplied by farmyard friends. Despite all the healthy eating advice of subsequent years, Joan was never persuaded to switch to polyunsaturates or vegetable oil!

Back home in Newcastle she was awarded a scholarship to Dame Allan’s Girls School and eventually, after being invited to Head’s office “for a chat”, she heeded the warning given and got stuck into her studies. She went on to Ripon Training College and qualified as a teacher. She was a gifted teacher – it was a vocation more than a career - and she impacted many young lives. To her death, she remained in touch with precious friends from school & college days. Friendships were important and valued and she sowed richly into many such relationships. Many here today have experienced the overflow from her heart of love and compassion, as well as her words of wisdom – and of course her hugs which could just make everything seem so much better.

Joan had incredible determination and inner strength, and could be very single minded. (I think that is the polite term for “stubborn”!) Much to her father’s disapproval, she decided to give up her job to have a break from her teaching career and return to her love of farming. In the days before CRB & DBS checks, her father who was a policeman, contacted police colleagues in Scotland to “make some enquiries” about the family whose farm his young daughter intended to go and work at. The report raised some concerns – but Joan went anyway. She lived to tell the tale, and never regretted it. Many years later she enjoyed visiting again, taking her own family to meet the family she had stayed with at that time.

In the late 1950’s Joan again was planning another change of direction. At a church missions conference she had met the Director of Education from Ibadan, Nigeria. At the time, Ibadan was the 3rd largest city in Africa. She decided that she wanted to go to Nigeria to help and agreement was reached for her to move to Africa to help with some of the education challenges there. Shortly before final dates and travel arrangements were made, the Director of Education who was making the arrangements died in a road accident, so Joan never went to Africa. Their loss was undoubtedly our gain.

Had Joan gone to Africa, she would never have met, and in 1962 married, the love of her life, Brian, a Merchant Navy Officer. Two children, Pamela and Philip were soon added to the family. Of course, her handsome seafarer is now better described as her very own “ancient mariner”, but for almost 55 years, together they safely and lovingly sailed a ship named “Family” through the joys and storms of life and ensured that we docked safely.

In due course, the family expanded when Philip married Jackie, and subsequently two grandchildren were added to Joan’s family. Joan (Nanna) adored Samuel and Hannah and invested unquantifiable amounts of time and love (and discipline!!), supporting Philip and Jackie to make sure her grandchildren had a strong foundation which has helped them to become the wonderful young people they are today. Both now have their own partners, and brought great joy to Joan when each added a great grandson to Joan’s family. It’s a measure of their love for their nanna that both Hannah and Samuel wanted to contribute to the funeral service.

Family was immensely important to Joan. She loved us all being together for birthdays, Christmas, and holidays. She sowed selflessly into her children and grandchildren, and though her time with her great grandchildren has been so very short, they too will reap what she so generously sowed into their parents.

But back to the late 1970’s, when Joan’s love and compassion led her to connect with a small number of volunteers to respond to an identified need to establish a support group for those living with long term illness. The Prolonged Illness Support Group was set up. We’re in church, so don’t think about the acronym, but it brought much merriment to younger members of the family at the time. For many years Joan befriended and supported a number of individuals who were struggling with their circumstances. The Group was eventually disbanded and its funds and services became part of the early work of the hospice movement on South Tyneside, which eventually saw the establishment of the St Clare’s that we know today. It is fitting therefore, that Joan and her family were able to reap what she had sown so many years earlier, and could benefit from St Clare’s services in the last couple of weeks of Joan’s life.

Joan ran a good race and passed the finishing line as a winner, with much cheering. There is so much we will remember about her. I’ll miss her very own brand of recycling – long before recycling was trendy - which was often quite embarrassing (– if you’ve ever received a tippexed and sellotaped re-used envelope from her, you’ll know what I mean!!), I’ll miss the taste of handcream on the cups and plates, I’ll miss some of her fashion statements, I’ll miss the blue socks with white sandals (well actually, no I wont!!). I’ll miss her encouragement and reassurance. She was a great encourager, not in a noisy way, but with a word, or a card or a hug. She believed that everyone could make a difference and that together we could change national and international events. I have no idea how many petitions we have signed, or how many letters she has sent to Presidents and government ministers in many countries where there is injustice and persecution of Christians. Royal Mail’s profits will certainly fall this year.

She was motivated by her deep Christian faith – quiet, but very strong. It was personal and intimate, very real to her, and she lived it out every day of her life. She knew her Lord, and He guided her to the end. She showed huge fortitude and determination through the last very difficult season of her life. Things that had always been so much part of who she was, she became unable to do – chatting, writing, and being part of the prayer group and bible study group and CMS group. But she remained an encourager, remained full of gratitude, and gave a smile and buckets of love to the very end. More than anything, I’ll miss her hugs – they said so much without any words, and made everything seem OK.
She has finished her race, and I know she has heard the words ”Well done good and faithful servant”.