Joan McLEAN

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McLEAN: Joan Lily McLean of Strathclair, Manitoba passed away September 14, 2016 at Brandon General Hospital at the age of 94 years. Joan was born November 17, 1921 in Birmingham, England, the 3rd child of Daniel and Lily (Masters) Drinkwater. In 1925, as a family, they came to Canada and settled in Neepawa. Joan received her education here and after graduating high school she entered the registered nursing program at Miseracordia Hospital in Winnipeg. In 1944 she met Ken McLean and in 1945 they were married. She gave up her nursing career to take care of her family. She loved cooking, gardening, berry picking, sewing, knitting as proven by the ample canning done, jams and jellies made, and clothes sewn or knitted for her children and grandchildren as well as herself. Her deep passion for reading and puzzles continued right up until the end keeping her mind active. She enjoyed curling as a young housewife and in her later years was very supportive of her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren in the various activities they were in, whether it was sports, music, dance, concerts, rodeos, etc., attending and watching these events whenever she could. She was a very strong minded and independent person, still living alone in the family farm home until a couple of weeks before her passing. Joan was predeased by her husband Ken, son Glen, daughter- in-law Grace (Rush), her parents Daniel and Lily Drinkwater, her father-in-law and mother-in-law Bob and Margaret (Pirie) McLean, her sister Hilda and brother-in-law Les Morrison, her brother Frank and sister-in-law Grace (Campbell) (Drinkwater) McKee, her sister-in-law and brother-in-law Violet and Alf Wark, sister- in-law and brother –in-law Sylvia and Bill Lelond, and brother-in-law Bob Irwin. Joan is survived by two sons, Dennis (Kumiko) McLean, Ian (Elaine) McLean, three daughters, Jo-Ann (Greg) McKerchar, Diane (Mark) Nowell, and Doreen (Bill) Sawyer; ten grandchildren, Elicia Andreychuk, Maya McLean, Adrian (Molly Kelleher) McKerchar, Ryan McLean, Rick (Kourtney Strandland) Sawyer, Jennifer (Greg) Gaboury, Kyle McLean, Karen McLean, Kristian Nowell, and Rebekah Nowell, four great -grandchildren, Jessica Andreychuk, Danielle Andreychuk, Kaiya Sawyer and Kasen Gaboury, sister-in-law Jean Irwin and many nieces and nephews. The funeral service was held September 22, 2016 from the Strathclair United Church with Rev. Jamie Bradshaw officiating. Urnbearer was Adrian McKerchar and the Honorary Pallbearers were her 10 grandchildren. Rae’s Funeral Service was in care of the arrangements.

As published in Brandon Sun on Oct 08, 2016