MARY JOAN WHELAN BICKFORD
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Mary Joan Whelan Bickford on Tuesday, January 11, 2022.
Joan was born on July 22, 1936 in Port Arthur, ON (now Thunder Bay) to parents John Henry Bickford and Ellen Veronica (Whelan) Bickford. Her early years were spent on beautiful Lake Eva near Kawene, ON where her father was the Station Agent and Telegrapher. After the family moved to Manitoba, Joan attended St. Mary’s Academy, then a few rural schools, before going to St. Michael’s Academy in Brandon. She was a boarder there from Grade 7-12, graduating in 1954 as School President and Valedictorian. Following her high school graduation, Joan taught for a year before obtaining her Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing from the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, Minnesota. She began her career in 1959 as a Public Health Nurse, eventually becoming the Senior Public Health Nurse in Virden, MB. In 1969 Joan attended Catholic University of America in Washington, DC where she obtained her Master of Science in Nursing Degree in 1972.
During her 42 year career with the Manitoba Department of Health, Joan served in many positions. During the early 1970’s Joan was the Assistant to Dr. Ted Tulchinsky, the Deputy Minister of Health and Social Development, and together they worked on developing the Manitoba Home Care Programme and establishing Community Health Centres. From 1983-1994 Joan was the Chief Public Health Nurse for the Province of Manitoba. She also served as a Director or, at times, Acting or Interim Director, of various branches of the Health Ministry, including Child Health; Health Promotions; and Winnipeg North Region (Health and Family Services); and was a Senior Policy Analyst on Federal-Provincial Health issues and legislation.
In 1977 Joan went to Israel for 6 months, living on a kibbutz in Naan, to obtain first-hand knowledge of the Health Care system there. She returned home in the fall of 1977 to care for her terminally ill brother, John. Over the following years she attended classes at the Rady Centre, successfully learning to read and write the Hebrew language, making many dear friends in the process, and travelling back to Israel on different occasions.
Following her retirement in 2002, Joan embarked on a new career, publishing articles on Public Health and serving as the Editor for 3 editions of “The New Public Health”, a textbook written by Dr. Ted Tulchinsky and Dr. Elena Varavikova. This text is used in Medical and Public Health faculties in Universities worldwide, and has been translated into 8 languages. Dr. Tulchinsky has said that Joan was “the finest, most committed and most trusted editor” he had worked with and that he had the utmost respect for her judgment and her opinions. She was working on the 4th edition when ill health forced her to stop.
In addition to her successful career in Health, Joan was an accomplished seamstress, a gourmet cook, and a world traveller. Her kitchen was known as “Restaurant 900” to her appreciative family, and her Christmas baking and her summer market produce were eagerly welcomed by friends and neighbours. Having spent a year in Europe in her youth, Joan later shared her love of travel with her mother by visiting different Caribbean destinations every winter, and by travelling with her niece and nephews on memorable trips to Guadeloupe, Venezuela, Europe, Canada and the U.S.
Well-read and articulate, she loved books and films on history, biography, mysteries, and nature. An avid supporter of the arts, she had seasons tickets to MTC, PTE, loved the annual Fringe Festival, enjoyed Symphony and Ballet productions, and regularly attended Winnipeg Art Gallery exhibits.
To her friends and family Joan was a loyal, conscientious and generous companion. She was very close to her brother Fred’s family in Thunder Bay, travelling to visit on most holidays, celebrating their accomplishments and sharing in their major milestones. She was a knowledgeable and interesting conversationalist with broad interests and strong, principled views and opinions on issues. Competent and capable, she could be precise, determined and indomitable professionally as she set high standards for herself and others, earning the respect and admiration of colleagues and friends in the process.
Joan has left us a legacy of achievement and success, and of love, kindness and generosity and she will be dearly missed.
She was predeceased by her father, John (1976), her mother, Ellen (1989), her brother, John (1979) and her brother, Fred (2021). She is survived by her sister-in-law, Cheryl, her nephew, Sean (Christine Singleton), her niece, Leanne (Thomas) Joseph, all of Thunder Bay and her nephew, Robert (Kyla Brown) of Toronto. Grand-nieces Jaiya, Kiryn and Maliya Joseph of Thunder Bay, and Aurora Brown-Bickford of Toronto, as well as step grand-nephews, Liam and Connor Singleton of Thunder Bay also survive. Cousins surviving are Mary (Tom) McKinnon and family; Barb (Will) Stirrett and family; Rob (Daphne) Bickford and family, and Belinda Bickford (Peter Elcombe) and family.
Due to Covid precautions, a funeral service will be held at a later date.
If friends wish, a donation to a charity of their choice, in lieu of flowers, would be welcome.
The family would like to thank the dedicated doctors and nurses at Concordia Hospital, the staff at Shaftesbury Park Retirement Residence, the PSW’s and Home Care providers, and her family doctor, Dr. K. Kemkaran, for their care and kindness, as well as her many dear friends, especially Michal and Arie Lavy, Rachel and Benji Gerstein, and Dr. Ted and Joan Tulchinksy for their love, support and friendship over the years.
E.J. COUTU & CO. FUNERAL DIRECTORS
680 Archibald Street
204-253-5086
ejcoutu.ca
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Our most sincere sympathies to the family and friends of Joan Bickford Tuesday January 11th 2022..
Death notice for the town of: Winnipeg, Province: Manitoba