Joanna Ward (28 Jul 1978 - 1 Jul 2025)

Joanna Ward

A much loved daughter and sister and loved by all the family

Following, are the memory's of Joanna's sisters, as given at the service ........

HELEN

Joanna, our beautiful, darling big sister.

She was technically the eldest of the four of us – three years older than me.

I confess when I was a little girl I sometimes got confused and thought I was the oldest, because I was physically bigger and could help her and look out for her from a young age!

But of course Joanna was always our big sister, really. The firstborn. At the centre of our lives and our hearts.

I’ve always said there aren’t many people in the world like Joanna, both in terms of her disability but also more fundamentally who she was, her wonderful personality and character. She made our family unique – and looking back, she is what made our family life so special.

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MELANIE

We sometimes described Joanna as “non-verbal” which implies she couldn’t communicate– but if you knew her, you’d know that she spoke all the time – just not always in words.

Sometimes her communication was a look – a twinkle in her eye, a beaming smile, or a gentle tug to say “come here now.” And sometimes, her words came through loud and clear

Like when she came excitedly home from school and apparently asking "Where's Baby Jesus?", referring to me as a newborn, because she hadn’t seen many babies before. I know that she had the same admiration for Baby Richard a few years later. She was a very proud big sister.

She’d finish off catchphrases like “Nice to see you… to see you – NICE!” and she’d always let us know exactly what she wanted – she was a person with a strong sense of what she liked and disliked.

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HELEN

Jo would come to us and ask for a kiss or a tickle. She would say the word stars and smile - sometimes because she was feeling happy, and sometimes because she wanted us to give her some chocolate Milky Way stars!

She also let me know, with her brilliant cackle of a laugh, when she was having fun.
Like when I lifted her on my back, or held her up high on the see saw, in our garden. We had such fun times playing together when we were young.

We also spent hours watching cartoons together. Her favourites were Disney, like Cinderella and Snow White, Heidi, and all the Warner Brothers characters like Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd. She liked to copy Elmer Fudd’s laugh. And if you’ve been to Mum and Dad’s house you’ll know they have a Warner Brothers clock which was for her, it made a noise of a character every hour.

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MELANIE

Our family had the most wonderful summer holidays. Our parents might have been slightly crazy- Four children, packed up in our Peugeot Estate and set off on a ferry crossing before a mammoth journey for our beloved Eurocamp holidays. The furthest was a drive to Italy, and we all have the most wonderful memories of these times. We're very grateful for all of the amazing experiences we got to share as a whole family.

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HELEN

Jo always had her comfort items – like Penny, the little plastic doll we got her in France on one of our Eurocamp holidays. She’d hold Penny in her fingers 24/7, until Penny broke or disappeared. Luckily, Penny had a little green plastic hat, so then she held Penny’s green hat in her fingers, until that broke - and then she would hold the little broken pieces of Penny’s green hat. It was very inconvenient that her favourite toy was from France and absolutely impossible to replace in England!

She also went through a phase of holding polo mints between her fingers, and then a Milky Way wrapper, which got smaller and smaller over time…. All hell would break loose if the last tiny piece of the Milky Way wrapper went missing. So I became a master forger, cutting out little bits from white plastic bags to pass them off as the original - Asda bags were the best. It worked… for a while! Then she cottoned on to what I was doing… Joanna was very smart, wasn’t she?

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MELANIE

Joanna also went through a phase of absolutely hating red and pink, and wanting to hide anything red or pink she saw. Joanna had an eye for detail and miniscule red items would need to be removed, like the red 'P' at the top of the pepper grinder.

But aside from her quirks, Joanna loved family life and she just fitted in with us, as much as we fitted in with her. We made sure she was part of every bit of it. In fact she sometimes created extra adventures, for example when we didn’t have to queue for the rides at Disneyland, so we could go on the big roller coaster Space Mountain again and again and again…

Joanna has always been very included in the family adventures. She mastered pedlo boats totally on her own, she was there when we visited caves in the Dordogne, and we all went rock climbing at Becky Falls. And the sense of adventure continued at home, where Joanna would frequently be taken on a ride on the back of Dad's tandem trike- having experienced that myself, I can say Joanna was pretty fearless! And she had weekly horse riding lessons for a while.

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HELEN

Joanna absolutely adored Mum and Dad. She was lucky to have such amazing parents who dedicated their lives to her care and gave her so many wonderful experiences and joy.

Joanna also loved spending time with wider family. We had many family celebrations and get togethers. She loved all her Grandparents, her Great Uncle Arthur, Aunties, Uncles and cousins, and all the close friends who are now family to us. Christmases and birthdays were wonderful. Her 21st birthday was especially memorable as we threw her a garden party. As a very little girl she was even a bridesmaid for Aunty Janet and Uncle Martin – looking beautiful with her golden curls, and clutching her ABC book in all the photos!

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MELANIE

Joanna absolutely loved music and dancing – dancing around the kitchen, spinning in the living room, listening to us playing and singing at the piano. I have memories of holding her hands and whirling her around. And of her jumping, laughing, really joining in.

Joanna joined in with our spinning and dancing to the song “Star Trekkin’”, which we had on vinyl- all of us wearing neon coloured mullet wigs. Joanna loved it all – especially when we all surrounded the piano and would sing songs from musicals.

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HELEN

She was normally very patient watching our amateur music and dance “shows” in the living room, but we also took her to see the professionals (for which I’m sure she was very grateful!) And when she stopped hating red and pink and started to love it, she would want to have her nails painted red for the occasion.

We went to see so many shows with her, lots of musical theatre which she loved, as did we! The Phantom of the Opera was a particular favourite of hers. We were so happy to hear that her brilliant carers at Snodland took her to see Wicked at the cinema.

Jo loved her pop music, in particular the 1980s. Joanna had a huge selection of CDs and she'd be in charge of what music was played in the house (sometimes simultaneously as her favourite cartoon on the telly). As we got a bit older we would watch MTV and music videos together. She loved Chesney Hawkes, Human League, Pet Shop Boys, Abba, Simply Red and George Michael. She really loved George Michael, had a bit of a crush on him.

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MELANIE

Our bond with Joanna continued to be incredibly special as adults. As our family expanded with partners and children, Joanna has loved absorbing every moment, and our family get togethers are not going to be the same without Aunty Joanna. Joanna loved being an aunty to Ollie, Henry, Louis and Jude. Meeting them as little babies really made her smile and she loved watching them play.

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Reflections

HELEN

It is so hard to believe that you are gone, Jo. You had such a profound disability, and yet you gave us all so much and shaped who we are.

We will miss you so deeply, and you will forever be in our hearts.

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MELANIE

You taught us joy – how to find it in small things. You taught us what it means to care for someone, truly. You gave us humour, love, and a better understanding of the world.

And we owe so much of this to Mum and Dad. Their unwavering, quiet, powerful care for Jo over decades – through every phase of life – is nothing short of heroic. Thank you. We love you.