Obituary of Joyce Kerr

January 1, 1927 - Calgary, Alberta

January 1, 2024 - Calgary, Alberta

Joyce Kerr passed away peacefully on New Year’s Day, her 97^th birthday, with family by her side. Born in Calgary to George and Alice Wood, she was celebrated as Calgary’s first New Year’s Baby in 1927. As a younger sister to brother Roy, they were a very close family residing in Northwest Calgary where she enjoyed a happy childhood.   

Joyce’s education began in Balmoral Bungalow School, followed by Balmoral School and Crescent Heights High School. In her youth, she studied piano and was able to sight-read music well into her nineties. She excelled in needle work, embroidery, petit point, sewing and knitting – expertise which allowed her to create her own and her daughters’ clothing. Over her lifetime, she knit heirloom-quality sweaters, baby shawls, hats, and mittens for her family. Joyce was also a voracious reader and enjoyed a wide range of books.

After graduating from high school, Joyce attended Garbett’s Business College and was quickly offered a job as a teletypist with CP Telegraph. During her working years, she was given the plum posting of covering the 1951 visit to Banff by Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip. She was also sent to Toronto for a short-term assignment which allowed her to visit Niagara Falls and New York City with her CP friends, where she climbed to the top of the Statue of Liberty.

While at CP Telegraph, she met the love of her life, Robert (Bob) Kerr. Their romance flourished, and they were married on May 24, 1952. After their honeymoon to the West Coast, Bob and Joyce moved into their new home in West Mount Pleasant, where they soon welcomed their three children, Marilyn, Linda, and John. Joyce continued to live in the family home for 71 years, loving it to the end.

Bob and Joyce took on their family responsibilities with passion. Between them, they provided their children with wonderful childhoods, which included swimming, piano, and speech arts lessons, plus many weekend adventures and yearly summer camping vacations. Throughout her life, Joyce managed the household, preparing delicious meals and overseeing the household finances. It was a happy home.

When they became grandparents, they lovingly gave their seven grandchildren individual attention through special Christmas and birthday traditions, weekend sleepovers, and attending all their special events. Together, they later welcomed 17 great-grandchildren into their hearts.

Both Joyce and Bob were lifelong learners, taking classical guitar, Tai Chi, auditing university classes, attending lectures at the library, musical concerts, opera, and the theatre. They enjoyed travelling together to Hawaii, Scotland, Russia, and the West and East Coasts of Canada extensively. Joyce’s phenomenal memory allowed her to recall even the smallest details of all their travels.

In her later years, Joyce continued to keep herself challenged, maintaining an active interest in the daily news, and doing the crosswords and various games in the morning paper. She became a master of jigsaw puzzles, where she would insist on doing them without looking at the pictures. She also learned to use a computer, staying connected with emails, pictures from family, and researching things of interest on Google. Even in her nineties, she continued to watch her favorite TV shows or old movies she had previously recorded on her PVR.

Throughout her life, Joyce valued her many friendships and cherished her long-time relationships with her cousins. As life would have it, she out-lived most of them, though in recent years she always looked forward to the regular phone calls or visits from her very good friend Vickie McKinnon, and her long-time neighbour, Dorothy Linney.

Joyce was a beautiful, loving, and remarkable woman who lived a full and wonderful long life. She was predeceased by her beloved husband, Bob, in 2018 after nearly 66 years of marriage. Joyce will be forever lovingly remembered by Marilyn and George Reti, Linda and Henry Crawford, John and Donna Ferrara-Kerr; grandchildren, Natalie, Julianne (Lachlin), Christina (James), Jordan (Carla), Justin (Taylor), Jenny, and Drew (Becca); great-grandchildren, Malcolm, Cameron, Sabrina, Charlotte, Vivian, Laurel, Ludovic, Troy, Eloise, Iris, Theodore, Greer, Oscar, Alexis, Daphne, Laszlo, and Ralph.

The family is grateful for the wonderful care that Joyce received from all the staff at Trinity Lodge over the last six months of her life.

A Memorial Service will be held at McInnis & Holloway (Park Memorial, 5008 Elbow Drive SW, Calgary, AB) on Friday, February 2, 2024, at 2:00 p.m. Reception to follow in the Hospitality Centre at the Funeral Home. Condolences, memories, and photos may be shared and viewed with Joyce’s family here.

In living memory of Mary Joyce Kerr, a tree will be planted in the Ann & Sandy Cross Conservation Area by McInnis & Holloway Funeral Homes, Park Memorial, 5008 Elbow Drive SW, Calgary, AB T2S 2L5, Telephone: 403-243-8200.