Joan Gurian would have been 90 on April 29th of this year. She was born, Joan Bayliss Buckingham Christie, on 4/29/28 in Saskatoon Saskatchewan, Canada. Joan was an only child born to a very independent mother of stoic British stock. She talked fondly of growing up “on the prairies” and spending time at boarding school during her high school years. After obtaining a college degree in Science she became a Laboratory Technician and moved to the United States to work. Joan first worked in Boise, Idaho and that is where she met her best friend, Jean Thompson. Joan and Jean then moved together for work…first to Galveston, TX for a year and then to Everett, where Joan eventually met her husband Leonard Gurian.
Joan worked at Everett General and then Providence Everett until she retired. After retiring Joan and Leonard often babysat their grandchildren and participated in bicycling trips and aerobic classes. They travelled together to Greece and Fiji among other places. After Leonard’s death in 2004, Joan continued to keep busy, until very recently, with a number of activities: clogging, tai chi and aerobic classes; purple hat and other social groups; and volunteering at The Everett Animal Shelter; the local blood bank and Temple Beth Or. Although Joan never officially converted to Judaism she embraced Judaism and the local Synagogue and remained an active member until she died. Joan was an avid reader and, in later years, Sudoku puzzle solver.
Joan died at Providence Hospital in Everett on 03/25/2018. Although increasingly tired and weak towards the end of her life she remained fiercely independent and continued to take care of what needed to be done…for herself and for her family.
Joan is survived by her son and daughter, Paul and Anne Gurian, by her two grandchildren, Connor and Natalie Gurian-West and by her cousin Mary Irvine.
A memorial service will be held on April 5th, 2018 at 11:00 a.m. at Evergreen Funeral Home, 4504 Broadway, Everett. A short service will follow at G.A.R Cemetery in Snohomish.
In lieu of flowers, remembrances made be made in Joan’s name to Temple Beth Or or The Everett Animal Shelter.
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