Joan Lorraine Flynn (Maisonneuve) Speckeen
June 7, 1935 - January 22, 2025
Hours after an accidental fall while feeding birds, our beloved, admired, selfless, beautiful Joan passed away. Joan was born in Loon Lake, Saskatchewan, a
daughter to Alma and Tom Flynn and an older sister to Patricia. The family moved to an orchard in Kaleden, near Penticton, BC, when Joan was young.
Following elementary school, Joan graduated from the Penticton high school where her eager participation in school activities and athletics was limited by the
school bus schedule. As a child she was paid to pick fruit and to work in the packing house as an underage kid who had to leave the building when any government inspector arrived. She admitted in her later years that she had feared being alone when selling fruit on the highway. Joan often commented on
how her mother struggled successfully to care for her and Patricia during the war years when their father was in the army overseas.
Joan inherited and learned from her mother’s example to work hard and succeed despite obstacles. This led Joan to become a Registered Nurse and on to
being an Administrator of a Hospital Nursing Services Program, a Vocational School Nursing Instructor, and to earning a Bachelor of Arts, a Master of Education,
and a Nursing Diploma (Theory and Practice). Her career and achievements attest to her perseverance, acceptance of challenges, future thinking, and to her
always seeking to assist others regardless of their background or position. Varied, rich and international in scope, her roles spanned Hospital Supervisor and
Nursing Director; Hospital Director of Inservice Education; College Director of Health Services; Community Health Nurse Educator; Quality Consultant-Clinical Services; Instructor of foreign Trained Nurses; and conducting research in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and the Caribbean. Joan’s successful consulting business focused on Seniors’ Care, and she volunteered on projects Bulgaria, St. Lucia, Thailand, Central America, Dominica (Commonwealth), Armenia, and the Philippines. Joan was proud of her son Jay Pierre, born 1961 to her and husband Charles Maisonneuve, and a loving and supportive mother to Fred Speckeen Jr. She was an aunt to Lynda (Gordon), Deborah (Kenneth), Thomas (Melissa) and a great aunt to Hilary, Tarah, Thomas, Leigh,Tanner, Colin, Kenna, and Fraser. Joan was a grandmother (Namma) to Jillian Maisonneuve (Brandon Atherton), a grandmother to Ella Speckeen, and a great grandmother to Isla and Chloe, and a loving mother-in law to Cindy Tollefson (Jay Maisonneuve) and Brenda Quance (Fred Speckeen, Jr.).
Joan married Fred Speckeen in 1978. They were colleagues at the College of New Caledonia, Prince George, BC. Together they performed volunteer work
internationally, and travelled in over 50 countries. Fred is forever grateful for her love, support, and devotion.
Joan’s many friends and colleagues speak of her inspiration, impact, professionalism, empathy, leadership, kindness, meticulous dress, her home with its art and everything in place, fine meals, and her impressive flower gardens. A family memorial is being planned for a later date. Donations in Joan’s memory may be made to the Sheaf Espiga Foundation
www.sheafespiga.org that fights poverty in Central America.