Obituary of Joan Connell

Leonora Joan Connell (nee Surie) died in Toronto with family present on Tuesday, August 17, 2010 in her 91st year. Born on April 11, 1920, she went to school in north London (England) and, shortly after graduation, joined the Women's Royal Air Force at the outbreak of the Second World War. She served as a Flight Officer in a support role with the WRAF and was stationed at various airfields, mostly in SE England. Toward the end of the war she met RAF Flight Lieutenant John Connell and they were married in north London on June 16, 1946. Joan was the mother of two children: Anne (Charles) Coffey of Toronto and Peter who lives in Singapore. She worked hard all her life raising a family, running a household and supporting her husband in his successful career with the H J Heinz Company. This included masterminding three international moves - from the UK to Canada, then on to the US and finally back to the UK - where she and John finally settled again, eventually taking up retirement in Beaconsfield in south Buckinghamshire. Joan is survived by her two children, her son-in-law Charles Coffey, and by three grand-children: Andrew, Catherine and Jonathan Coffey. Although in good health most of her life, she never fully recovered from the trauma of a tragic car accident while holidaying at Jack Lake, north of Toronto, in September 2009, during which John died. The family would like to give special thanks to Dr. M. Wyman, Myrna Ampoyo, Melina Fetalvero, Marites Isidro and Petra Manning for all their caring and compassionate support, and to so many friends for their ongoing kindness to Joan throughout the last year. A celebration of her life will be held in Toronto at HUMPHREY FUNERAL HOME - A. W. MILES CHAPEL, 1403 Bayview Avenue (south of Davisville Avenue), at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, September 3, 2010. Donations, in lieu of flowers may be made in Mrs. Connell's memory to Toronto Botanical Garden, 777 Lawrence Avenue East, Toronto M3C 1P2 www.torontobotanicalgarden.ca.