CHARKE, Joyce
September 19, 1937 - November 2, 2016
An obituary will never do justice to the life led by Joyce Eleanor Charke. Joyce is predeceased by parents Francis Henry and Dora Jones of Calgary, Alberta. Joyce is survived by husband William (Bill) Charke and son Mark of White Rock, son Derek (Pauline) of Kentville, Nova Scotia, and daughter Krista (Tony) Bryce, and grandchildren Alexis and Jacob of Nanaimo, BC, as well as brother Frank (Lis) Jones of Calgary, Alberta and her three nieces Taryn Jones Marcotte, Trisha Jones-Smith and Melora Jones Danforth.
Joyce saw beauty in everything and everyone. A cloud was never just a cloud - it had shape and personality. She could draw colours out of black and white. And her love had no boundaries with an innate ability to accept everyone for who they were without judgement or prejudice. Being the talented artist she was, her life might be best compared to a painting - a masterpiece - a labour of love. Her parents gave her an empty canvas and the tools she would then use to create her work of art during her vibrant 79 years. Every friendship, event, emotion, adventure, was captured with each stroke of her brush, creating layer upon layer with each passing year with the final image only sharing a glimpse of Joyce's amazing journey. Within the layers there are stories of running barefoot through grassy plains chasing butterflies, climbing in the Rocky Mountains, childhood summers at Crescent Beach, working as a photographer, an assistant to the late great stage illusionist and hypnotist Peter Reveen, and a draftswoman in Kitsilano before eloping and moving to Malaysia where she created her own home-based animal hospital to care for everything from Gibbon Apes to wild birds injured from her husband's logging operations. Then would come the colourful journey of motherhood, life-long friendships, the nurturing of every animal, especially birds, brought to her care, a two-year adventure to Vietnam, the joy of agate hunting and music as a talented pianist, becoming 'Grandma' and so much more.
Of course, in every life there is sorrow, and Joyce was not immune, losing loved ones much too soon. And now we share the same fate, but her time was not for us to choose.
To honour Joyce's wish there will be no celebration of life, but please share your condolences or a memory with her family at www.victoryfuneralcentre.ca. In lieu of flowers and donations, please pay it forward and enjoy a colourful life with a little more compassion, patience and understanding for those around you.