M. Joan Beckley

September 30, 1932 – January 8, 2016

Joan (“Tack”) will be remembered as a loving wife and mum, serial volunteer, and as a role model and great friend to many. Her great strengths included her razor-sharp wit, unwavering honesty, fierce independence, and relentless giving. Her passions included family, Guiding, genealogy, education, and travel. Born in Winnipeg, she was an excellent student and continued on to post-secondary education with a BA (Manitoba) in 1954 and a Masters of Library Science (Michigan) in 1956. After graduation she spent a year exploring Europe with her best friend Dubby. This love of travel was passed down to her children and grandchildren. Working at Bell Canada in Toronto, she met and then married Lloyd in 1959. As Lloyd progressed through different positions within Bell, they raised their family living in Pointe Claire (1962), Ottawa (1966), New Jersey (1968), Beaconsfield (1972) and then back to Toronto in 1976. Happy memories were created through home life, camping trips and beach and blueberry-filled family summers at her parent’s cottage on Willard Lake. Through 39 years of service to the Girl Guides of Ontario, Joan helped many girls and leaders grow and develop as citizens. She became a Guider, Division Treasurer, District Commissioner, and Area Commissioner. Provincially, she served as the Public Relations Commissioner in 1985, Deputy Commissioner from 1988 to 1992, and finally worked tirelessly at the GG archives. One of her most rewarding accomplishments was to organize an international Girl Guide Jamboree (Echo Valley ’88) that was attended by 3,000+ Guides from 42 countries. She worked fervently on the family genealogy and spent many happy days travelling around Manitoba, rural Ontario and England sleuthing the family tree. In her later years, she served as the Secretary for the Ontario Genealogical Society. She enjoyed travel with Lloyd and with friends, and watching the Jays. Among her happiest moments were playing games, hanging with ‘the gang’ at the GG archives, conquering the daily Cryptic Crossword, jigsaw puzzles, hiking on the Bruce Trail. Joan cared deeply about the environment and was recycling from the ‘70s.

Joan was predeceased by her parents, Mildred and John Tackaberry, brother George, and wonderful husband of 50 years, Lloyd. She is survived by her children David (Kathy), Jane (Phil Osborne) and Keith (Martha Richardson); grandchildren Robert (Jamie), Alison, Leah, Emily, Rachel, Thomas, Claire, and great granddaughters Adelaide, Calla and Olive, as well as in-laws, Joan and Frank Banks. Joan will remain in all of our hearts forever.

A celebration of Joan’s life for friends and family will be held at the TRULL “NORTH TORONTO” FUNERAL HOME, 2704 Yonge St. on Friday, January 22nd, 2016 from 9:30am. The service will be held in the chapel at 10:00am. In lieu of flowers, donations to the Girl Guides Canada Endowment Fund or the Nature Conservancy of Canada would be appreciated. Online condolences may be made at www.trullfuneralsyonge.com