Anna Joan Searle
1934- 2022
We walked our mother home on December 23, 2022 at Pioneer Lodge in Moose Jaw SK.
We are grateful for her gentle spirit, fierce love of family, deep kindness and her determination to always do her best. She was with us to the last.
Joan was born on the farm near Peebles, Sask on July 24, 1934. She was the eldest of eight children born to Joseph and Marguerite Tholl.
She will be lovingly remembered by her children Kim (Cheryl) Searle, Michelle Sims (David Turner), and Joe (Wendy) Searle. She leaves six grandchildren: Jillian Sims (Nicholas Graham), Jamie (Mathieu) Loiselle, Myles Searle, Whitney Searle (Jeff Harris), Brendan Searle (Berkley Proust) and Leslie Searle, and five great grandchildren: Aubrey Jukes, Elise Harris, Luc and Evelyn Loiselle, and Tucker Searle.
She is survived by her brother Allan (Dot) Tholl, and sisters Elaine (Bill) Willox, Patricia Sterzuk, Noreen (Allen) McGratten, sister in law Betty Tholl, and many nephews and nieces.
Joan was predeceased by son Kevin (1978), husband Allan (1999), son in law Bob Sims (2007), her father (1969), mother (2005) brothers Peter (2012), Harry (2014) and infant Joseph Tholl (1945), sister in law Betty Jean Tholl (2017), brother in law Harold Searle and sisters in law Dean Searle and Marie (Bill) Campbell.
Joan attended Clayton School from grades 1-10, then boarded in Windthorst to complete High School. She attended Teachers’ College in Moose Jaw and funded some of her schooling through radio singing contests on CKRM radio in Regina.
She loved children and she loved teaching. Her first teaching post was for 2 years at Red School in 1953. It was there she met Allan Searle; they married in 1955, and farmed together for 44 years, when Kim (and Cheryl) took over the family farm.
Joan loved the seasons of farming, especially harvest and taking meals to the field.
After their four children were in school, Joan worked as a substitute teacher, and then trained and worked with a visually impaired student for 8 years at Mortlach School.
Joan continued to sing in the Mortlach village Christmas concerts, church choir and in “My Choir”. She enjoyed curling, spending time at Buffalo Pound Lake, travel and gardening.
She had a lifelong interest in local history, and spent many hours at the Mortlach Museum, collecting and cataloguing information and artifacts about the early history of the area.
After Allan’s death in 1999, Joan moved full time to the Village of Mortlach, then to an apartment in Moose Jaw in 2017. As her health changed, she settled in at West Park Crossing in 2020.
The Funeral Service was held at St Joseph’s Church on December 30, at 11 am, with luncheon to follow. Interment was at Sunset Cemetery on Jan 13th, with Deacon Lamont. Arrangements in care of Jones Parkview Funeral Home.
Our thanks to the staff on the surgical ward at WF Wigmore Hospital, Memory Lane at Pioneer Lodge and West Park Crossing.
Memorial donations can be made to Mortlach Museum, the Canadian Lung Association at lung.ca or to the charity of your choice.
In living memory of Joan, a memorial planting will be made by W.J. Jones & Son Ltd. Please sign the memorial register at website: www.wjjonesandson.com (Obituaries). Dayna Chamberlain - Funeral Director
