Joan was born in Fort William, Ontario Canada on February 21, 1951.
Fort William later almagmated with Port Arthur in 1969 to become Thunder Bay.

Her parents were Bruno & Lena Sylvester.  She has 2 brothers, Robert & Ricky and a sister, Jane.  Robert is married to Kathy and they have 2 children, Jonathan and Jennifer.  Jane is married to Tim Zaroski and they have 2 children, Gordie & Terry. 

She was in the 1st graduating class of the RN Program at Lakehead University.

She loved nursing, and over 45 years, she worked in many different departments, but babies were her favorite.  NICU, Materinity & Delivery & Newborn Nursery gave her the most joy.    

She was married on July 17, 1971 to Ray at St. Elizabeth's Church in Thunder Bay.  Their honeymoon was in Minneapolis, but 2 years later, took a delayed honeymoon to Spain and Italy for 3 weeks.  Her grandfather, who lived in Thunder Bay, was visiting his brother in Italy at that time.  So, Joan & Ray visited him there and she met the mid-wife who delivered her mother!  The mid-wife showed her a photo of her mother.  Quite remarkable.

Joan & Ray moved to Hearst, Ontario in 1972 until 1974. They moved back to Thunder Bay where Andrew was born in 1974 & Neil born in 1975. 

In 1978 they moved to Ventura, California for a year and moved back to Thunder Bay and were there from 1979-1983.

In 1983 they moved to Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.  Having had enough of snow, Joan said let's move back to California and we did.  We moved to Fresno, California in August 1988 ... we had a 2 year commitment and have been there ever since.

Joan loved yoga.  She started practising it 16 years ago. It gave her peace and kept her grounded.  During a hiatus from nursing, she became certified as a yoga instructor.  She taught yoga classes; pre-natal yoga of course.  She was very helpful to all of her students. They benefited from her expertise as a mother, an RN with maternity experience and as a yoga instructor.

Joan was an accomplished pianist and loved singing.  She sang in the band at Holy Spirit Church in Fresno, CA. 

She also loved the Enneagram: a spiritual guide to personal growth.  It helped her and me.  Our relationship with each other, ourselves and others was much better as a result of studying the Enneagram over the last 16 years.  It changed our lives forever.

Neil & his wife, Dani provided us with 2 grandkids.  The arrival of her grandkids, Carley, in 2003 and Carter in 2007, changed her life and mine forever.  She would and did anything for them.  She wanted to spend as much time with them in their early years.  She didn't want them to forget her.  That will never happen.  They love their Nona very, very, much.  

When she went back to nursing in 2010 and became involved in home health care she called me her first day on the job.  She said: "I didn't know this type of health care existed.  I would do it for free."  What she saw and experienced was the great love of the families who took care of their loved ones;  the sacrifices they made to keep their loved ones at home instead of putting them in institutions.  She truly enjoyed the relationships she developed with her clients.  She didn't like the government paperwork and crazy regulations though!

Joan was a mentor to many.  She kept that private and it was only between who she was helping and her. 

I'm hoping that those she mentored will add their stories to her memorial.

When we went to the ER early in the morning on August 16, 2016 and the doctor came back after the ultrasound of her gall bladder and said her gall bladder was fine but there was a spot elsewhere, she said to me: "Hold on, this is going to be a wild ride!"  She knew right then.

12 hours later:  2 scans, a liver biopsy, a diagnosis and a meeting with the oncologist. He said she had Stage IV Cancer of the bile ducts of her liver, (cholangeal carcinoma). True to her fashion, she said to the doctor, "Give me the worst case scenario. I can deal with it."  The doc said 2 months to 2 years.  She made it 5 months.

She did deal with it in her fashion.  We went to her nephew's wedding in Toronto 6 weeks later.  Two months later she flew to Thunder Bay to visit her favorite neice to share the journal she wrote to Jennifer when she was a baby.  She didn't want me to go.  It was a special time for her to share with Jennifer.  That's how she was, always thinking about someone else first.  What a girl!

When she came back to Fresno at the end of November, 2016, she knew she was on limited time.  The latest scan showed no improvement; the tumors were multiplying.  We spent a lot of time talking about what she wanted.

Shortly after we were married, she told me that she would die before me.  And she said if I am ever on life support, "pull the plug."  She told me this many times over our marriage.  It was if she knew in advance how she would leave this world.

When Oregon passed their Death With Dignity Law, she said to me, "Just give me the magic pill if I am ever in that situation."  When she was diagnosed, she said that when she was ready, just "fly me to Oregon."  Fortunately, she didn't have to go to Oregon; California passed the same Death With Dignity law and it was signed into law in October of 2016.  She took advantage of that law; we had to jump through a lot of hoops ... she was the 5th person in  Fresno to take advantage of it.

In our last meeting with the oncologist at the beginning of January 2017, the oncologist said the results of the latest scan showed more tumors and her life expectancy was 2 weeks to 8 weeks.  Joan decided on the day she was going to leave her body. It was a beautiful experience for me to be able to help her get what she wanted, when she wanted it and help her on her new journey. She had no fear, no regrets and knew where she was going.

We made a pact to meet again.  Our souls, our spirits will meet again. She has visited me and many of her friends already.  She told me to "Go and help others."  I plan to do that and look forward to meeting up with her. In the meantime, "my heart will go on and on" and I hope yours will to with your memories of Joan ... a wonderful, loving, caring person who is watching over us now.