Joanne Smith (26 Jan 1963 - 17 Jul 2014)

In loving memory of my beautiful wife Joanne who very sadly passed away on 17th July 2014. Joanne was taken from us suddenly after suffering a massive brain bleed. Joanne also leaves her two daughters Alice & Emily. We miss her so much.

Tribute (read by husband Michael at Joannes service)
Joanne was born 26th January 1963 to Frank and Dorothy Mandel, the youngest of six. Frank passed on many years ago but Dorothy is still very much with us.

Joanne has four brothers and a sister:
Raymond, Ronald, Chris, Paul & Linda

A shy girl, who went to school at Norwood Green Infants and Junior and then onto Hounslow Manor secondary modern.

Joanne worked at Tudor Glass, Brentchem and Pandair which later became AEI, the latter as PA to a senior manager.

In 1977 Joanne was unfortunate enough to meet a Gangly, greasy hair yob called Michael.

Eventually we bought our first house and decided to marry. There wasn’t much of a proposal the subject was was just slipped into a conversation “I suppose we should get married then?”. I was working for an airline and Joanne always said she only married me to get cheap flights.

25th May 1985, we were married at Hounslow Registry office she was so beautiful. Joanne always said that I married the registrar because I never looked at her once during the service.

12th October 1990, Alice was born. Three years later on 22nd February 1993 saw the arrival of Emily. Joanne and I decided that she would be a “stay at home” mum and spend as much time as possible with our children. Joanne was a wonderful mother, she devoted so much time to the well being of our beautiful daughters who have become as kind hearted as their mother (sometimes).

Throughout her life Joanne loved to travel, she even found a drive to the airport exciting as it reminded her of going on holiday. As a family we have visited many places and had such great experiences and adventures but Jo’s favorite place in the world is North America. Wherever she is in the world Jo has to sleep with a window open complaining to me that it’s too stuffy to sleep with it closed. On a holiday in the USA, Death Valley, the temperature was about 130 degrees during the day, at night is was impossible to open a window because it was just too hot, Joanne was overwhelmed with the heat and spent the night sitting on a chair in front of the AC unit.

Joanne was always doing something with the girls, from coffee mornings to playgroups and swim clubs at school. Both girls went to the local community pre-school, where Jo was eventually employed and after a period took the role of Hall supervisor. Recently Joanne began doing much of the administration of the pre-school and in September she was supposed to be taking over a new role in the pre-school as operations manager which would have seen her take over all of the “day to day” functions that would normally be done by the committee. Children were Joanne’s life.

Joanne loved to party, and her 50th Grease party was her crowning glory she arranged everything. Where possible she would plan Christmas & Birthdays. Firework parties were what she really loved. She was the glue that kept us all together, the family social secretary.

Joanne’s hobbies were her family and her activities were more focused on what everyone else in the family was doing rather than what she wanted. Joanne was active in cycling, climbing and all kinds of keep activities fit at the gym. Joanne was also a skier which we started quite late in life. Jo became quite a confident skier but would always know her limits. It makes us all laugh to hear her squealing with fear when those limits are reached. Joanne also loved to bake and decorate cakes, both of my sisters wedding cakes were made by Joanne. She was also talented at arts and crafts and would lend her hand to almost anything. Her Rainbow fish made for her recent course work was pretty good.

Joanne loved a bargain, and would always wait until buying something just incase it came on sale. Inevitably she did not buy what she wanted as it would sell out of her size. Today would for sure have been done on a much tighter budget.

For the past two years Joanne was studying for an Arts Foundation Degree in Education. This Foundation Degree Early Years was at Brooklands College and Kingston University. We are very proud that Joanne was awarded a Merit for a level 4 & 5 qualification, a result that she sadly, never got to hear.

Joanne’s sudden passing was for sure a massive shock, to be told that there is nothing that could be done for Joanne was unbelievable. However from this awful nightmare Emily and I were fortunate enough to spend some time with Jo whilst we waited for Alice to arrive from Canada. The girls could lie with Jo and give her massive cuddles, we made handprints, took locks of hair and helped the nursing staff to care for Jo. We are sure that this time has helped us to cope as we had plenty of time to say our goodbyes.

We decided as a family that Jo would become an Organ Donor. It gives us great comfort that Jo is helping to keep other families loved ones to live better lives through Organ Donation. So far she has helped four people. A Liver (to a person that would have died without it) her Pancreas to another and her Kidneys went to two people. We tried to get them to take her much-hated BUNIONs but they just could not find a recipient.

Jo was a wonderful happy person that had time for everybody, the one thing that I am going to miss is her smile. Getting up in the morning or coming home from work, what I really looked forward to was to enter the room and see that lovely smile. I am so fortunate to have been part of Joanne’s short life.