Joseph William Foy

Joseph William Foy had a big voice, a warm heart, and a love for Johnny Cash. Now, that’s not to be confused with his undying devotion to his wife of 71 years, Pearl. Their love story is one for the ages. But I’m getting ahead of myself...

Joe grew up an East Van boy, just blocks from the Pacific National Exhibition. On summer break from Britannia High School, he would work at the PNE midway. He learned a lot about fair play, and it was a theme he would embrace throughout his life.

Joe met Pearl at Vancouver General Hospital. She was working as a nurse, taking care of patients of all kinds. He was working in the kitchen, cooking giant roasts of beef and peeling enough potatoes to feed an army. To be exact, they met at the timeclock. Remember those punch in-punch out devices that ruled your paycheck? Well, it was also a great spot to chat up the ladies apparently.

One rainy night, Joe asked Pearl if she would like a ride home in his car, instead of waiting for the bus. She said yes.

A year later when Joe was 20 and his bride a much older 23, they got married and scooted away from parents and problems to a new life in Kelowna. As the Ford Prefect car skidded along in the February snow on the old canyon #1 Highway, they sang along to Johnny Cash’s “Ghost Rider in the Sky”.

As recently as one week before Joe became ill, he and Pearl again mentioned the song during dinner and how that cold, blustery afternoon in 1951 was the happiest day of their lives. Not the wedding part...the freedom to love and start a new life together part.

They stayed in the Okanagan for a few years, as Joe worked at several hatcheries developing his skill at being a ‘Chick Sexer’ (Fun fact: this job is featured in the 2021 Academy award winning movie “Minari”).

The newlyweds then moved to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island where Joe learned all about running chicken farms from his Uncle Jimmy. Joe worked hard and saved every dime, until he had enough to buy a chicken farm of his own in Langley.

Throughout his life Joe had a real interest in birds; and raised chickens of all breeds, budgies,love birds and a cockatiel or two.

Joe and Pearl started raising children too. Joe Jr., Matt, Julia and Gail all lived in the little farmhouse for a few years, until a new home was built at the end of a gravel road with a view of Mount Baker. Baby Brenda arrived just after Christmas in 1962.

We lived a wonderful life, surrounded by forest and fields; chased by a gang of Shetland ponies and dozens of miniature dachshunds. A dozen chickens moved in at some point. For several years all 5 children, and later 16 grandkids all enjoyed fresh brown eggs from the hobby farm.

In the mid-1970's, Joe’s second career took him in a new direction. Joe’s brother Peter who owned a chain of Dairy Queen stores in the Maritimes, encouraged Joe and Pearl to became franchise owners of a Dairy Queen restaurant in Tsawwassen. Over the next 40 years they would serve up thousands of ice cream treats and burger and fry combos at DQ’s in Delta, Vancouver, Newton, Ferndale Washington, Langley city, Guildford, and Langley township.

The stores provided jobs for hundreds of high school and university students. Joe also raised tens of thousands of dollars through sales to donate to BC Children’s hospital as part of the Children’s Miracle Network Telethon.

Joe took trips to DQ conventions all over the U.S. He and Pearl invited the whole damn extended family on two wonderful conventions in Hawaii in 1996 and again in 2006. Aloha!

He finally decided to hang up the blizzard cup when he turned 80 years old. The next twelve years were spent enjoying their garden of fruits and flowers and their growing family tree. Just last month, the 19th great-grandchild Dev arrived.

As for Johnny Cash...Joe loved his music to bits. In the 1980’s he had a chance to say hello to Johnny and June Carter on a hotel patio in Jamaica. About ten years ago, Joe and Pearl attended a Vancouver Art’s Club performance of the Million Dollar Quartet, a tribute in part to Johnny Cash. After the show, the actor who played Johnny came out to say hello to Joe and pose for a picture. Joe looked so happy, you’d think he’d died and gone to heaven. So now that Joe has climbed the stairway to heaven, I like to think he’s having a cup of joe with Johnny. Maybe he will ask him to sing “Ghost Riders in the Sky”.

Joe had many blessings in his life. But we are also blessed to have lived under his rainbow, which surrounded us and kept us safe our whole life. Thank you to special friends who helped support Joe in recent years, including his live-in home care aid Renalyn, and the Panorama Dialysis Clinic.

A celebration of Joseph William Foy's life will be held in 2023.