When Joanne walked into the room, those in her company felt energy, an enthusiastic spontaneity. This was just one example of who Joanne was and how she impacted those around her. Joanne was a clever and gregarious person who always sought out the finest attributes in other people. It was as if Joanne wanted to share all of their experiences, revel in their lives and celebrate their discoveries. Joanne was tireless and had boundless enthusiasm that would serve her well throughout her life.
Joanne was born on August 23, 1939 at at her grandparents farm in Sheho, Saskatchewan. She was the daughter of Matt and Annie Skiehar. Joanne was raised in Sheho, Saskatchewan. Always at the ready with a good joke, she grew up to be quite a humorous person.
Joanne was raised with six siblings. She had one younger brother, Walter and 5 sisters Eleanor, Iris, Jeanette, Angeline and Carol. Joanne was very accepting and supportive of her family. She was perceived as the central person in her family in terms of keeping communication open between the family members. These traits served Joanne well in her adult life and, along with her wit, outgoing personality, and understanding of others, drew the admiration of many who knew her.
As a young girl, Joanne was able to empathize and identify with a vast array of people and personality types. This quality drew her into a diverse group of friends and acquaintances. Joanne was very sociable and had little trouble getting along with her peers. She was almost always the first to jump in when it came to playing games or participating in other childhood activities. Joanne took part in baseball. In her spare time she liked playing cards. Joanne had the ability to find amusement with almost any activity she and the many childhood friends she shared might discover.
With a talent for making acquaintances easily which in turn brought her an endless stream of friends, Joanne was very sociable and could blend without effort into any social group. Assertive and outgoing, Joanne was easy to know and demonstrated a deep concern for others. She always seemed aware of what was going on with people around her and throughout her life she made many, many friends. While growing up, her best friend was Johanna Short. Later in life, she became friends with Adeline, Alvina, Nan, Lorraine, Ruby and much more along the way along with many of her co-workers who she kept in touch with even after they retired.
On August 25, 1990 Joanne married Dale Harwood at her home with her friends and family of Vernon. Joanne's skill at “building bridges” played an important role in her ability to make her new family happy. She was quite sensitive towards Dale's needs, showing her constant concern and fondness. Joanne was tenderhearted and sensitive, qualities that served her well in helping to nurture her family.
Joanne was a natural and creative parent who was willing to provide her family with all sorts of new and interesting experiences. For Joanne, parenting was a particularly enjoyable and pleasurable part of her life. Joanne's skill at understanding her children's feelings, her sensitivity to their needs, and her gift for gentle persuasion enabled her to find novel solutions to any problem or situation that might crop up. Joanne was blessed with six children: three sons, Richard, Dwayne, Darren and three daughters Cindy, Barbie and Lori. They were also blessed with five grandchildren and one great grandchild, Paige, Chelsey, Dylan, Brandi, Codi and great grandson Preston.
Joanne was uplifted by new ideas and was excited by life's possibilities, traits that made her an exceptional worker. Her primary occupation was being our mother. She was employed for most of her life starting at 16 years of age working on the farm or waiting tables in restaurants. Joanne was enterprising, inventive and working against deadlines seemed to energize her. Joanne had the uncanny ability to identify a win/win solution to just about any problem, possibly because of her gift for insight. Joanne's fellow workers saw her as a supporter and a mentor.
Because Joanne loved to have a broad variety of activities in her life, she took advantage of the opportunity to pursue numerous hobbies. Her favorite pursuits were gardening, canning, sewing, curling, playing three spot, baseball, bowling and loved dancing. Joanne had a knack for being able to multi-task in order to create time for all of her favorite pastimes. However, Joanne's ever-present concern for others always took precedent.
Joanne derived much satisfaction from participating in and watching sports. You could ask her anything about a curling team and she would tell you everything about their stats. Her charisma, supportive nature and ability to improvise when called upon to do so all made perfect attributes for enjoying a great many sporting activities. Recreational sports included baseball, bowling, curling and of course, doing Richard Simmons workouts with all the neighbourhood ladies. Joanne was also something of a sports fan and enjoyed watching her favorite events whenever she got the opportunity. Tops on her list were curling and hockey.
When Joanne moved to Vernon she joined the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and decided that was the time to learn how to read and write ukrainian, which she did. She was also a member the United Church later on. She was sympathetic and able to empathize with others and she used these qualities to the fullest while working tirelessly for her beliefs. Always organizing a bake sale, making ukrainian easter eggs or peroghys was what she loved to do.
Joanne's love of improvising in her daily life was a perfect fit for her enjoyment of traveling. Her favorite vacations were ones that she would get to visit all her friends and family back in Sheho when she could. Excited about seeing changing scenery and constantly looking for the enjoyment life could offer. Her favorite vacation was the Dominican Republic with her kids, neices, nephew and her first trip out of Canada. Joanne glowed on this trip and even bought her first ever "bikini" bathing suit. Who would have thought that she would end up meeting a couple Saskatchewan boys that took her under their arms as "baba - she loved it!! Joanne also travelled to Powell River with her friends, Vancouver, Calgary and Saskatchewan which is where she visits her children and her own family.
Joanne was a lover of animals and cherished her pets. Her family was rounded out by her other dogs Chico, Corky, Misty and her two cockatiels GiGi and JoJo.
When Joanne's retirement finally came in 2003, she handled it the way she usually did. She adapted and, like everything in her life, made it satisfying. Because she was such a flexible person and able to adjust to any situation, retirement was just another enjoyable change of pace for Joanne to master. In retirement, she found new pleasure in gardening, sewing, canning and making perogies, borsht and cabbage rolls for her children. She would often call us and say " I just finished making 35 dozen perogies" or 350 jars of canning. Even in retirement, Joanne continued to stay in touch with her old friends and like always, made plenty of new ones.
There was always a certain style and inventiveness to Joanne. She was a dynamic, self-expressive person who was forever looking to celebrate the endless possibilities life had to offer. She had a knack for being clever, creative and witty, and for others, was a joy to be around. While she was often fiercely independent, it seemed as if many others looked to Joanne Harwood for inspiration, leadership, wisdom and even courage. Joanne was always more than willing to share life's experiences with her loved ones and was just a phone call away.
Joanne Harwood passed away on January 4, 2009 at Vernon Jubilee Hospital. Joanne went in on December 4th with a stroke and unfortunately died unexpectedly of cancer, with her family by her side. She is survived by her husband Dale, mother Annie, three daughters, two sons, five grandchildren, one great grandson, one brother and four sisters. A Celebration of Life was held at Pleasant Valley Funeral Home. Joanne was cremated and laid to rest in Vernon along with her son Richard Skiehar.
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