Joan Mary Valentine (Bishop) Pearce (1919 - 2012)

Born 20 May 1919 in Drouin, Victoria, Australia

Ancestors

Wife of Hugh Hoskins Pearce — married 24 Feb 1945 in St George's Church, Malvern, Victoria

Died 30 May 2012 at age 93 in Freemason's Home, Lindisfarne, Tasmania, Australia

Problems/Questions Profile manager: John Andrewartha [send private message]

Biography

Joan was the first born of Walter Valentine and Kathleen Mary Bishop and had been born on May 20, 1919 at Drouin, Victoria. Three siblings followed with the last dying in infancy. Soon after that the family was split. At the end of 1922 Joan went to live with her grandmother Eliza Mary Johnston, of Spring Road, Malvern, while her siblings were fostered out. The Johnsons sent Joan to a private school in Malvern, Warick College, run by the Turners. There she was awarded prize books for Home Reading and Poetry. In 1933, as the economic depression continued, the grandparents were unable to continue to pay the fees and Joan left school at 14. As a child Joan did not always have good health and in fact had her tonsils removed at home on the dining room table. At 17 Joan commenced training as a nurse at Prince Henry’s Hospital in Melbourne but ill-health cut her career path short. Early in the war years Joan, as a civilian, began working at the Army HQ Medical Depot in Carlton. Here she was filling orders for medical supplies for dispatch to wartime operations at Milne Bay with the requisitions signed by the indecipherable signature of Lieut. H. H. Pearce. Joan and Hugh went on one date before he returned home for Christmas 1944. Hugh proposed to Joan over the phone, she accepted and they were married at St George’s Church, Malvern, on Saturday, February 24, 1945. Joan and Hugh had two sons and two daughters.

Sources

• My WikiTree Joan Mary Bishop is a ? cousin ? of Edwin Max Andrewartha
• Convict to Merchant of Salamanca Henry Pearce 1810 - 1901 His Life, Times and Family by Graham Henry Pearce ISBN: 978-0-646-95215-4
• Henry Pearce Family Tree May 2016 by Annette Macquarie

Eulogy at funeral of Joan Pearce held on 6 Jun 2012