Joan Barbara Chisholm

Joan Chisholm shuffled off her mortal coil on the evening of June 21, 2021. She was born on January 9, 1931, in New Westminster to Dr. Arthur Crease and Florence Vanwyck and grew up in Essondale. As a teenager, she attended the Banff School of Fine Arts, where she was tutored by A. Y. Jackson, a member of The Group of Seven. She trained at the Royal Columbian Hospital and became a registered nurse. She met the love of her life, Bob Chisholm, while working in the hospital in Campbell River. They made a striking couple known to be mistaken for Doris Day and Lloyd Bridges. Bob and Joan moved from Nanaimo to Vancouver in 1963 and bought a lovely home in Kerrisdale. Joan filled the house with laughter, kids, pets, food, and fun, all with a dash of glamour. She created a loving and accepting space and opened her home to more than a few young people and nurtured them like they were her own.

She was widowed at 54 years and relocated to Vancouver's dynamic West End. Joan threw herself into a full-fledged urban environment with a diverse set of friends, walks around the Seawall, beach days at English Bay, aqua fit and ultimately became an integral part of the bustling scene. Her artist life blossomed to include retail window design and her oil painting subjects became the birds, flowers and trees of Stanley Park. Joan continued to paint until just a few years ago. She leaves behind her five children, Duncan, David, Kathy, Jeannie, and Sarah, seven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband Bob, her brother Fred and her granddaughter Natalie. She was one of a kind; we will miss her very much.