Kathleen "Joy" Jones

This week, our family’s world became one with a lot less joy. Kathleen “Joy” Jones (née Dorrington) passed away peacefully in the early morning of October 19, 2022, surrounded by her family. Born September 25, 1933, in Woolaston, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom, at 89 years old she was the last surviving sibling of the 11 children born to George and Minnie Dorrington.

An intelligent and driven young women, Joy left home to attend Goldsmith’s College in London, the first in her family to go to college. She obtained her teaching certificate, and then, when it came time to deciding where to start her career, simply put a pin in a map of England and fatefully it ended up on Birmingham. For it was in Birmingham where Joy attended a community dance and met her husband Derek. After 65 years together, they celebrated their sapphire wedding anniversary this past August 5th.

Joy taught for many years in the UK until the family emigrated to Canada in 1975, when Derek took up a position as professor at Dalhousie’s Dentistry School in Halifax, a career that would see Joy and Derek travel all over the world attending international conferences, with Derek as head of the Canadian delegation. She especially enjoyed travelling back to visit family in the United Kingdom, over to British Columbia to see her grandchildren and spending winters on the warm beaches of the Algarve in Portugal.

While Joy never continued her teaching career in Canada, she kept very busy raising their 4 children as well as volunteering with UNICEF, the IWK Auxiliary, the Canadian Cancer Society, and Art Sales and Rentals at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia Very supportive of the Arts, Joy and Derek were also season subscribers to Neptune and Symphony Nova Scotia. Joy was also an active member of Dalhousie Women’s Club, Reading Club and Bridge Club. She was an excellent bridge player and an avid tennis player, playing tennis right up until the day she suffered a stroke in 2014.

After her stroke, Joy was determined to remain as independent as possible and kept her mind active by playing Mexican Trains regularly with her family, easily becoming the undisputed Queen of Mexican Trains. More than anything, Joy will be remembered for her beautiful smile, mischievous sense of humour and the most wonderful hugs. She was well loved and loved well. She was and ever will be the Joy of Derek’s life and as our family begins to heal, we look forward to a future that is less about the absence of Joy but about the joy that she brought to our lives.

Joy is survived by her husband Derek, children Heather (Marshall), Marcus (Susan), Rachel, and Lindsay and her two grandchildren, Christopher Kennedy and Stephen Kennedy. The family would like to thank everyone who helped with Joy’s care in her later years, especially Tracey Preston and Brenda Fraser, Dr Deanna Swinamer, Amanda Tinning, Claire Morton and the rest of the Palliative Care Team, as well as the the wonderful nurses with the VON and the folks at Embracor and the NS Rehab, especially Myles Fillmore and Kimberley Offman.

A celebration of life will be held November 5, from 2 to 4 pm, at J.A. Snow Funeral Home, 339 Lacewood Drive. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Heart and Stroke Foundation.

“And all my grave will warmer, sweeter be

For you will bend and tell me that you love me

And I shall sleep in peace until you come to me”