Service Details

The family will celebrate her life and spread her cremains on her mountain garden in Frisco, Colorado, this summer.

The Story

Lois Joan North
Sept. 1, 1933 – Feb. 16, 2016

Lois Joan North died Feb. 16, 2016, at home in Windsor, Colo., after a courageous battle with Parkinson’s Disease. She was 82.

Joan was born Sept. 1, 1933, in Morden, Manitoba, Canada, the daughter of Edward and Christine Wessler. She grew up in Hamilton, Ontario, with her sister Connie and brother Paul. She graduated from Delta Secondary School and received her teacher’s degree from Hamilton Teacher’s College in Hamilton.

On Aug. 27, 1955, she married Richard Ralph North at St. Paul United Methodist Church in Hamilton, Ont.

Joan worked as a grade school teacher in Kingston, Ont., while Dick attended Queens University Medical School. After Dick graduated from Medical School, the couple moved to Houston, Texas, for his residency.

The first three of four daughters were born in Houston. The family then moved to Dallas where Dick joined a neurology practice and Joan focused on raising their four daughters.

The family lived in Dallas for 45 years, from 1968 to 2013. Joan was an active member of Spring Valley United Methodist Church in Richardson. She taught Sunday School there for several years.

She was a volunteer for many years and many organizations. She was a docent with the Dallas Zoo; she helped plan weddings at the Dallas Arboretum and delivered Meals on Wheels. She also was a Girl Scout troop leader.

She enjoyed playing tennis, traveling with her family and the company of her tight group of female friends. “She was the embodiment of a ‘true friend.’”

In the 1980s, Joan became a certified Realtor and worked for 15 years in the real estate industry in Dallas.

After retirement, Joan and Dick enjoyed international travels with friends as well as visiting their daughters and eight grandchildren. They spent summers in the mountains of Frisco, Colo., for the past 18 years and spent winters in Dallas. In 2013, they left Texas and moved to Water Valley Senior Living in Windsor, Colo., to be closer to two daughters and six of their grandchildren.

Joan was an excellent knitter and quilter. She made many blankets and hats for babies born at Parkland Hospital in Dallas, as well as for her grandchildren, friends’ grandchildren and many others.

“She was a wonderful wife, sister, mother, Gramma and friend, who cared deeply for those around her. We will miss her warm embraces, conversations about everything under the sun, especially during ‘cocktail hour,’ and that twinkle in her eye that always accompanied her laugh.”

Joan is survived by her husband of 60 years, Dick; daughter Elizabeth Staggs and husband Mark of Loudon, Tenn.; daughter Amy MacRitchie and husband Shawn of Fort Collins, Colo.; daughter Julie Hay and husband Matt of McLean, Va.; daughter Kristin Hamm and husband Kevin of Centennial, Colo.; and grandchildren Erin and Conor MacRitchie; Trent and Logan Hay; and Alice, Sophie, Charlie and Clara Hamm; her sister, Connie Evans, and brother, Paul Wessler. She was preceded in death by her parents.

Her family will celebrate her life and spread her cremains in her mountain garden in Frisco this summer.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made to Accent Care Hospice, 1180 Main St., # 9, Windsor, CO 80550.

Arrangements were handled by Goes Funeral Care in Fort Collins.