About Joan Francis

Joan was born in Arden, Manitoba in 1946. She was the first of four children born to Ralph and Velma Lowe. She grew up on a farm in the Arden area until her family moved into Neepawa in her teen years. Joan graduated from high school in Neepawa and moved to Winnipeg to attend university. After one year in school, she married her husband James William Francis on July 15, 1967. They began their family in 1969 with the birth of their first child, Mark, and in 1973 their second child, Dawn. With her husband's Air Force career, Joan lived in several communities across Canada, Germany and the United States. After her husband's retirement from the Air Force in 1994, Joan moved to Creston, BC with her husband to live and work on a fruit orchard. In 2017, Joan and her husband retired from orchard life, and moved to Courtenay, BC. In her life Joan worked in various jobs including accounting, travel, and farming fruit. She was an avid curler, gardener, and enjoyed family singalongs with her husband on guitar and her father playing mouth organ. In her later years, Joan loved spending time with family and her three grandchildren. She is pre-deceased by her parents, Ralph Baxter Lowe (1999) and Velma Eleanor Lowe (nee Orriss) (year).