Celebration of Life - Joan Robison

In 1998, at the Bayshore Inn in Vancouver many ladies went to a Red Hat organizational meeting.  Pat, my cousins wife was one of the ladies there and she sat with Joan Robison and others.  At that meeting, they created the Friskie Fillies, a new Red Hat Group.

On April 18, 2013, Pat asked me to accompany her to a Red Hat lunch.  It was their 15 year anniversary.  I joined that day and ever since then I have attended the lunches.  I'm not great in remembering dates but I remember when we were driving home, "breaking news, bombing at the Boston Marathon".  

Joan became the queen of the Friskie Fillies.  She was a tall, stunning, warm, friendly awesome lady.  She lived in PAL Vancouver.  It's an apartment to provide longstanding members of Metro Vancouver's performing arts professions with affordable housing within a vibrant and creative community setting.  It's one block away from the Bayshore Inn and a lovely building.  We had a few lunches in the common room at the top of the building.  She loved it there.  

She talked to me often about all her children and grandchildren.  She said they worked in the entertainment field but never really elaborated or bragged.  Her five children, daughter Lisa, who I met at Joan's apartment and four sons invited us to her Celebration of Life.  They asked we wear our red hat regalia and everyone co-operated.

The event was held at the Vancouver Rowing Club in Stanley Park.  Pat and I took Skytrain and Uber as the park is very busy on a Sunday, traffic is horrendous and parking is hard to find.  It was a great choice.  Between Burrard and waterfront stations the train came to an emergency stop!  I'm glad no one was standing as it would have thrown them to the floor!   It was just a few minutes and they came over the speakers and said we would be moving shortly.  We have no idea why that happened, but it was a little frightening to everyone on board.  The ride home was fine.

Joan's five children and ten grandchildren were all there.  Joan's four sons all gave wonderful stories about their mom.  Gillian, a former Red Hat member, and Joan's best friend also gave a lovely speech.  The family of film makers and film editors, took their father's 8 MM pictures and created a 20 minute film showing pictures of the family as they grew up.  They also interviewed Joan.  It was professional and very touching.

It was such a lovely day and such a gorgeous venue, here are some of my pictures:

You can see the seawall.  Lots of people walking and cycling!!

If you look beyond the masts, you can see the cruise ships Serenade of the Seas and the Noordam

What a lovely tribute to a loving mother, grandmother and a true friend.  Rest in peace, Joan, we sure miss you.