Obituary of Joanne Susan McCloskey

June 28, 1951 - Edmonton, Alberta

April 14, 2024 - Calgary, Alberta

Joanne McCloskey, of Calgary, AB, passed away on Sunday, April 14, 2024, at the age of 72 years.

Joanne (Jo) was born in Edmonton, AB, on June 28, 1951, and later moved to Calgary, AB, with her family in 1962.

Joanne found school effortless. She received the highest award for academic achievement in grade 12, after which she immediately continued to the University of Calgary, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1975. Her adult work life was spent in a variety of positions, all with the Geological Survey of Canada in Calgary, from which she retired in 2014.

Jo was an avid reader, a passion possibly cultivated during her many weekend sleepovers with a cousin in their childhood and into their teenage years. She led a quiet life, but all who knew her remember the gifts of wit and humour she brought to any gathering she attended.

Jo’s vacations were invariably spent with family. Summers she often travelled to the Pacific Northwest of BC and enjoyed meticulously weeding in her sister’s garden. Christmases were often celebrated with her other sister and brother in the South of BC.

During her mother’s illnesses and aging, Jo, for many years, was a loving, devoted, and supportive daughter, and at times, also a caregiver.

She will be most remembered and admired for her courage and tenacity in her twenty-year-long dedication to recovery and sobriety. During the course of those two decades, she retained many childhood friends and made new intimate friendships with her ‘other’ family members, also in recovery.

One of Joanne’s favourite sayings was, “Don’t Believe Everything You Think”, a maxim superficially paradoxical, yet upon more careful analysis, very wise.

Joanne is survived by her brother Gerald, who resides in Burnaby, BC, her older sister Darlene, brother-in-law John, and their two children Kelly and Kyle, all of whom reside in Surrey, BC; and her younger sister Judith and her daughter Jesse, who reside in Terrace, BC; as well as numerous cousins and friends.

Joanne was predeceased by her parents, her father Gerald Thomas who died in Calgary in 1966, and her mother Dorothy Mary (nee Wade), who died in Calgary in 2002.

A Public Gathering will be held at McInnis & Holloway (Heritage, 1708, 16th Avenue N, across from the North Hill Shopping Centre, Calgary, AB) on Monday, June 10, 2024, at 2:00 p.m. 

Condolences, memories, and photos may be shared and viewed with Joanne's family here.

In living memory of Joanne McCloskey, a tree will be planted in the Ann & Sandy Cross Conservation Area by McInnis & Holloway Funeral Homes, Heritage, 1708 – 16th Avenue NW, Calgary, AB, T2M 0L7, Telephone: 403-299-0100.