Our sincere condolences to you, Doug and your family on the passing of Joan.
Gerry and I have wonderful memories of Lions’ gatherings at Ridor Acres with you and Joan and all of the work you both did to prepare for the events.
Our thoughts are with you at this difficult time.
Sincerely,
Gerry & Jane

Our sincere condolences to you, Doug and your family on the passing of Joan. We have fond memories of better times, I know she will be greatly missed. Our thoughts and prays are with you at this difficult times.

Sincerely,
Frank & Lorna

Our sincere love and condolences to you Doug, Jamie and David. Forty-three years of great memories of family events, holidays and weekends at Ridor Acres, and especially beautiful memories of my dear friend Joan. We had such wonderful times together and we will miss her terribly.

Doug and family,
We would like to express with deepest sympathy, our sincere condolences on Joan’s passing. She will be missed. We will always have fond memories of good times and friendship. We remember the wonderful times of Lions’ gatherings at your home, Ridor Acres. Our thoughts are with you at this diffuct time.

Bill & Jill

Celina and I are so sorry to hear of Joan’s passing. We well remember our many social functions as part of the Orangeville Lion’s Club. Our thoughts and prayers are with your family.

Our sincere sympathy to Doug and Family on Joan’s passing. She was a fine, pleasant lady with a good sense of humour. Our thoughts are with you at this difficult time.

Doug, Jamie, David and Families,

With much sadness we have just learned of Joan’s passing via my sister Marilyn. It has been quite some time since I have seen any of you and my memories of Joan are of a great Lady who stood out in a crowd. She was such a wonderful person. I liked her a lot. I will pass this sad news on to my children and families, Karen and Kevin.
With deepest sympathy,
Barry and Nancy

Our sincerest sympathies Doug to you and family on the passing of Joan. We have recalled many times the great party at Ridor Acres and enjoyed the serenity of your home, and farm. Joan was a fine, fine person and I know all of you will miss her. We will add her name to our prayer list.

Ron and Joan Lehman

I was so sorry to read of the passing of you lovely wife and mum. I knew Joan, when she lived on Silverthorn Ave., and we both attended General Mercer and Oakwood Collegiate. She was so vibrant and full of life – a cheerleader, no less. It sounds as if she continued on with this joyful personality throughout life. My condolences.

Dearest Doug, I want to pass on deepest sympathies from myself and my girls and our families, on Joan’s passing. We had some good times, didn’t we, and lots of memories to look back on. She was a great lady and a very caring person. Our prayers are with you, Doug, at this difficult time.

Doug & Family,

Our condolences to you Doug and Family on Joan’s passing. Joan will be greatly missed. We have many fond memories of Lion’s Clubs socials graciously hosted by yourself and Joan at Ridor Acres. Our best wishes to you at this difficult time.

Terry & Judi

Doug & Family
Our deepest sympatthy to you at this very sad time. A very special lady has gone from us. Please know that we are thinking of you.

Lion Wally & Fern

Dear Doug and family,

All your fellow Lions Club members would like to express, with sympathy, our sincere condolences on Joan’s passing.

She will be greatly missed. Many of our members have fond memories of good times and friendship, within the fellowship of Lions.

Our thoughts and prayers are with you at this difficult time.

Orangeville LIons Club

My dear friend Doug
It is with a saddened heart that I send my sincere condolences to you and your family. Joan was a great lady and we shall all carry great memories of her sparkling sense of humor. The laughs we shared over the years should comfort you as they will all your friends. My thoughts are with you always.
Lorie Haddock

Doug & Family,

Joan was our consultant when I was at Brookhaven P.S. and she was very skilled but more importantly a wonderful fun loving member of the team. I remember a great day at Ridor Acres when she hosted all our consutants so that we could plan future initiatives. We got a lot done and we had a great time. She was a wonderful hostess.
I also remember many IDEA conferences that we both attended and they were fun. I also enjoyed re-connecting with Joan at our IDEAA luncheons both in the Spring and at Christmas.
She was very proud of her boys and spoke about them and their families all the time.
I will miss her enthusiasm and wonderful sense of fun!!!!
Our thoughts are with all of you & I will send a donation to your Cancer Organization in her wonderful memory.

Neil Williamson – Retired consultant & VP

Doug and Family
My sincere condolences to all of you. Joan was a great colleague in the North York Board of Ed and highly regarded by all for her easy manner, her engaging personality and her good will toward so many. After retirement, pathways go many ways, but our group always enjoyed coming together for ‘retiree’ events – Joan missed very few of them. We will miss her deeply.
Sincerely
Marguerite Jackson
North York Colleague

I worked with Joan several years ago as a consultant with the North York Board. We worked hard but we had many good times and laughed so much. She was such a positive, energetic force. Funny, kind, generous to a fault. She regularly offered her beautiful home for end of year parties. While I have not seen her in a while the stories and the laughter are vivid. She will be sorely missed.

My sincerest condolences
Adele Jeffrey

Joan’s glowing red cheeks shined and her eyes twinkled when she wore her little sailor hat……. that is an image I will always hold dear from all our laughter-filled moments as consultants in North York!
Bon Voyage dear Joan!

For Doug and Family,
I was deeply saddened to read Joan’s obituary in the Toronto Star while I was away on vacation. Having just returned, I felt I had to email you, because I have been trying to find my dear Grade Five teacher, Miss Swarbrick for the past two years, without success. You see, she had a profound influence on my life and I feel I owe a big chunk of my success as a teacher, coach and writer to her influence. In fact, there is a poem in which I use her name in my latest book (“The Greatest Canadian Love Poem and Other Treasures of the Heart”), and I pay tribute to her (and several of my other favourite teachers) in my Acknowledgments. I so wanted to give her a signed first edition and thank her in person for all she did for me so long ago at Gracefield Public School. I hope you will contact me so I may personally deliver a copy to you, or, as I understand this is a horrible time for you, perhaps I could mail you one. I hope you will get in touch with me at arose @ rogers.com or 416-748-1977 or (cell) 416-705-1977. Again, please accept my deepest condolences.
Allan Rose

To the family of Joan (Swarbrick) Dobson
I have only recently learned of Joan’s death. (May 2014)
I was an Oakwood Collegiate classmate of Joan’s and in going through some old household items came across a mounted formal photographic portrait of Joan. I would be pleased to pass this on to the family members.
Please contact me at jacobfriedberg @ rogers.com or 416 444 6130
Jack Friedberg

I stumbled across this sad news as a result of an unconnected Google search. Like Allan Rose, I also was in “Miss Swarbrick’s” grade 5 class at Gracefield Public School around 1957. As a little boy, I had such a crush on the most beautiful teacher I had ever seen, and I think my dad had as well. Another crazy memory was in grade 4 where we were given the choice of who our grade 5 teacher would be, Miss Swarbrick or Miss MacFarlaine. It took me 2 seconds to make my choice. Miss Swarbrick was also exceptional in that she engaged with my often inane challenges, and very sweetly made me back up my assertions. That was exactly what I needed. What a loss to her family and friends, but what a gift she was to me. RIP, Miss Swarbrick.