Obituary of Joanne Carol Downing

Joanne Carol Downing was born to Charles (Chuck) & Dorothy (Dot) Eldridge on January 21, 1956 in Edmonton Alberta. She was preceded by 2 brothers, Bob & Ken. They grew up in what is now known as the Old Beverly area of Edmonton. She recalled spending her days with her best friend Mary Jane at the horse track and always going to Klondike days with her brothers. She told stories of spending her summers at Lake Wabamun with her Aunt Willa, enjoying her time with the farm animals, kicking over rocks looking for snakes & reading her books by the water. In her early teens after Bob & Ken had moved out, Charles retired from the plumbing business & Chuck & Dot purchased the Red Lion Hotel in Cadogan Alberta. She had her own room in the hotel that she would spend with her Boston Terrier Spud & reading. Spud always enjoyed a pint of draft after the bar closed. She quickly met many friends whom she kept in touch with. There she met a handsome 18 year old man by the name of Robert Lyle Downing. They fell in love & married in July 24, 1971. In 1972 they moved their 10 X 42 trailer from Provost to a trailer park in Grande Prairie that Rob supplied Blue Flame propane to. Joanne was working at Smitty's to help make ends meet. They sold that trailer to move back to Metiskow in 1974 & shortly thereafter the farm north of Cadogan. There they operated on the farm with all the animals & pets that Joanne always loved. Chickens, pigs, cattle & of course her beloved horses, cats & dogs. February 18, 1975 they had their 1st born Russel Lyle Downing, followed in December 2, 1976 by Leanne Carol Downing. She enjoyed the farm life, taking care of her children until they were in school & not long after started as the librarian in the Provost Public School. While they were on the farm they enjoyed many summers at Capt. Ayre Lake for swimming lessons & many other camping trips. In 1988 they sold the farm & moved into Provost where she continued to work at the school and Rob went back into the propane business. Rob was given the opportunity to manage the Canwest Propane branch in Taber, Alberta in 1993 and Leanne joined them for her last year of high school. Joanne worked for Royal Lepage as an administrative assistant. 1996 the 3 of them moved to Bonnyville where Joanne stayed working with Royal Lepage. 1998 Rob & Joanne moved to Fort Saskatchewan where Rob discovered he was better suited selling propane rather than a desk at head office & they soon moved to Lloydminster where Joanne quickly got a job working for Musgrave Agencies & Rob could manage his own branch again. It was in Lloydminster in 2000 that Joanne started her battle with cancer. The treatments for breast cancer brought on other health complications that she struggled with. After beating breast cancer she moved back to Fort Saskatchewan in 2004 with her dog Moxie. While there she started treatments for bone cancer. She moved back to Lloydminster in 2006 to be closer to her family & continued to struggle with her health. July of 2013 she was diagnosed with Myelofibrosis (Bone Marrow Cancer) & due to complications was hospitalized in April of 2014 not expecting to pull through. As tough as she was she wasn't going to give up yet & managed to beat the odds. After getting out of the hospital she lived her life to the fullest doing things she hadn't been able to do for many years. Camping, quad rides, boating & spending time with family she loved so dearly. She even contemplated sky diving with her children but her doctor insisted she stay on the ground. She treated every day as a blessing. She was surrounded by love & laughter with her family over Thanksgiving weekend at Drew & Leanne's where she had spent so much time. On October 17 Joanne felt peace in her heart and embraced her new journey.... Joanne will be forever missed and lovingly remembered by her son, Russel (Carrie) Downing of Lacombe, Alberta and their children, Jordan and Amber; daughter, Leanne (Drew) Lake of Lloydminster, Alberta and their children, Addisen and Jack; brothers, Bob Eldridge and Ken (Marg) Eldridge; as well as numerous other relatives and friends. She was predeceased by her parents, Charles and Dorothy Eldridge.