Joan Howes

Mom was born in Calgary on February 17^th 1932 to Francis (Frank) and Betty Galloway. Frank was an oil field worker and Betty was a nurse from the first graduating class at the Calgary Holy Cross hospital in 1915 who went on to nurse for the Canadian Expeditionary Force in WWI.

Mom was raised in Royalties, a small oil boom town on the hill north east of Longview, the town no longer exists.  She was the youngest of 3 girls.  Their home was a tar paper shack with an outhouse and a root cellar. No power and no running water.  Mom remembered as a young girl driving the old Model A down into Royalties to get water from a town source.  On winter days they could tell just how cold it was by the amount of frost on the nails that came through the walls.  Their view to the west was the Highwood River Valley, the Foothills and the mountains.

Mom did her schooling in Royalties and she had many good friends, she always had a good time.  She used to speak enthusiastically of going to Canteen (dance club) in Turner Valley on Saturday nights.  They would catch the bus in Royalties at 6:30 pm and catch it to go home at 9:30 pm.  Mom LOVED to dance!

Mom met Dad at Canteen.  They dated, broke up and got together later when Mom was at Hollingshead Business College in Calgary.  They married January 30^th 1953.  Dad was posted to Penhold with the RCAF (Royal Canadian Air Force) at the time.  Their oldest son Randy was born in Red Deer in 1955.  They moved to Calgary in 1955 and built their first house in Thorncliffe.  In 1958 their second son, Lorne, was born in the Calgary General Hospital.

In 1960 they moved to Carstairs where Dad worked for Home Oil.  This was the start of Mom’s extensive volunteer life.  She started as a leader for CGIT and expanded her volunteerism as we children grew.  Mom gave birth to a daughter, Sandy, in Didsbury in 1962.  Mom was very busy all the time with raising 3 kids, camping most spring and summer weekends and as we grew so did her volunteering.  Cubs (Bagheera), Guides (leader and eventually District Commissioner), secretary for the Recreation Board, managed the kitchen/commissary at the skating rink, IODE, and more we can’t recall.  Carstairs would have been a lesser place for the lack of Mom’s energy, drive and open friendliness.

In 1985 Dad received early retirement and they started spending some winter time in Yuma, Arizona and their summers on the west coast at Deep Bay where Dad fished.  The view out the front window of their motorhome could knock your eyes out.

They lost their son Lorne to cancer in 1988 and that left a hole in Mom’s life.  Mom and Dad lived in their own home until 2017, moved into Chinook Winds Care Home in Carstairs and then moved to Bethany Didsbury while dealing with Covid realities.  Unfortunately, Mom slipped into dementia in the last few years of her life and knew only a few people at the end.

She experienced a full, loving life and has touched many people over the years.  We would like to thank both care facilities for the loving, caring support Mom received.

2 of Mom’s Poems

Don’t grieve for me for I am free

I’m following the path God has laid, you see

I took his hand when I heard his call

I turned my back and left it all

I could not stay another day

To laugh, to love, to work or play

Tasks left undone must stay that way

I found my peace at the close of day

If my parting has left a void

Then fill it with remembered joys

A friend shared, a laugh, a kiss

O yes, these things I too will miss

Be not burdened with times of sorrow

I wish you the sunshine of tomorrow

My life’s been full

I savored much

Good friends, good times

A loved ones touch

Lift up your hearts, and peace to thee

God wanted me

He set me free

&

To the living, I am gone

To the sorrowful, I will never return

To the angry, I was cheated

But to the happy, I am at peace

And to the faithful, I never left

I cannot speak, but I can listen

I can not be seen, but I can be heard

So as you stand upon a shore

Gazing at a beautiful sea

Remember me

As you look in awe at a mighty

Forest and its grand majesty

Remember me

As you look upon a flower and

Admire its simplicity

Remember me

Remember me, in your heart, your thoughts

And your memories of the times we loved

The times we cried, the times we fought

The time we laughed.

For if you always think of me

I will never have gone.