Joan Elizabeth Whitehead (McLaughlin) passed away at Cottage 5 Hillside Village in Salmon Arm on the evening of Sunday, January 13th, 2013 at the age of 96. She was born in Vernon BC on July 23rd, 1916. As a child she lived in Vancouver, Alberta, Grindrod and Notch Hill. In 1940 she met and married Hans Whitehead and together they moved to Campbell River where Hans logged and they saved money to purchase land in Eagle Bay, BC. Their two girls, Vera Whitehead (Jensen) was born in Comox and a second daughter Anna Whitehead (Mackay) was born in Vernon. In 1946 they moved to their land in Eagle Bay and built a small house. Joan was a stay at home mother running the house and raising her two girls. She was always very active in the community, spending hours doing crafts, sewing, knitting, needle and petit point, rug hooking and any other craft that struck her fancy. She loved to attend the dances at the Eagle Bay Hall, and helped do lots of fund raising so there was a community hall. She also loved her scrabble and every Wednesday afternoon friends gathered to play scrabble and have afternoon tea. For many years she ran the Okanagan Regional Library out of her home. After her husband passed away in February 1983 she continued to live on the property. Everyone in Eagle Bay, might not have known her name but everyone knew the little lady that walked miles and miles on the road every day, sometimes hiking to the store twice a day, very seldom did she accept a ride. Mom was always very supportive and there for her family, always a good sport. She retained her sense of humor until her passing . She had five grandchildren, Sandra (Blair) Downie, Wanda (Darrell) Johnson, Brian Mackay, Carolyn (Gary) Edwards, and Garry (Julie) Jensen. She was very close with and received great joy from her grandchildren and them from her. She would drop anything she was doing to play games with them. She had eight great grandchildren, David, James, Richard, Christopher, Nicole, Nathaniel, Larisa, Zara, Mallory and Cailyn and two great, great grandchildren, Danika and Keegan. She was predeceased by her husband and four great grandsons, Michael, Alexander, Kenneth and Raymond.
On October 11th, 2005 she settled into Cottage 5 at Hillside Village and we feel that she had the best of care. We as a family would like to thank the staff of Cottage 5 for the care and special attention that she was given. There will be a gathering in August 2013 at the Eagle Bay Church for a memorial.
Memorial donations may be sent to the Cystic Fibrosis Canada, Calgary & Southern AB. Chapter – 1130F – 44 Avenue SE, Calgary, AB T2G 4W6 or to the Make a Wish Foundation BC & Yukon – Suite 112-2025, West Broadway, Vancouver, BC V6J 1Z6
On line email condolences may be sent through Joan’s obituary www.bowersfuneralservice.com