Joan Crawford

Joan was born in her family home in Warrnambool, Victoria to parents William and Alice (née Jenkins) Woods. The youngest of 10 children, she was called Bub by her family, a name she never liked but it stuck throughout her life.

When Joan was four years old, the family moved to Geelong. She spent many happy times going on holidays with her older siblings, playing cards and sports, going to the pictures and watching Geelong play footy.

Leaving school when she was 13, Joan worked as a nursing aid, then later as a pharmacy assistant during the war years.

Joan Married Albert on Easter Saturday, 1947 and moved to Dandenong a few years later where they raised their two children, Pauline and Graeme. They regularly went on holidays and Joan especially loved being by the sea, despite never learning to swim. Widowed in her forties, Joan worked a variety of jobs to support her family and was quite the homemaker, sewing clothes, painting the house and being a proud gardener. She was also a great artist and painted many beautiful pieces that won awards at local exhibitions.

When 10-pin bowling became popular, Joan was a champion bowler, winning many events and later winning many lawn bowls championships throughout Victoria.

Family was very important to Joan and she was always happy to be looking after her grandchildren, taking them on bus rides and to the local market to buy clothes, produce and Dandee Donuts.

Joan had many adventures in life and later in life went solo travelling overseas. Once the travel bug bit, she took any opportunity to venture. She went on The Ghan, travelled to Birdsville for the famous races, and enjoyed many trips with family to places such as numerous remote outback 4WD adventures, going to Darwin, Tasmania, Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Hawaii.

In later years Joan still enjoyed movies (especially the older ones), shows like Midsummer Murders and Miss Marple, always watched the news and was always up to date with world happenings, and game shows... and of course the footy. She also had a computer tablet that she used daily to play games like solitaire and pokie machines. She particularly enjoyed jigsaw puzzles and was an avid reader.

Diagnosed with cancer in 2018, Joan didn't let that stop her continuing to live a full and active life. She was regularly tending to her beloved garden, going on bus trips, shopping, family holidays and cooking her own meals and tending to her home.

Joan sadly passed away at home in 2023. She is dearly missed every day.