Joan Beverley Marsland was born on August 2, 1927 and died November 8, 2021. Joan was born in Detroit, Michigan to immigrant parents. Although Joan was born in the United States, she remained connected to her family in the UK throughout her life. She was proud of her heritage and was an avid genealogist. During her retirement years Joan compiled an extensive collection of family history dating back to the 1600's.

Joan had a happy childhood filled with baking, sewing, trips to the beach, and family camping trips. One summer, when she was eight, she met her fate falling off a horse breaking her elbow. After some time trying to heal, her parents gave her a violin to play as physical therapy. She fell in love with classical music and played the violin throughout the remainder of her life.

Joan met Carl "Cork" McDanold when they shared a sink in their high school biology classroom and hit it off right away. Joan and Cork both played in the orchestra with Joan being 1 ^st chair violin and Cork 1 ^st chair in the trumpet section. They dated throughout high school and were engaged before Cork left for the service in 1944.

Upon his return from the service in 1947, Joan and Cork were married in Grand Rapids, MI. They briefly attended Michigan State College in Lansing then returned home to Grand Rapids to start their family and together build the first of many homes throughout Michigan and Washington. Family was always a priority for Joan and Cork, and they created many adventures and memories for their three sons and daughter with camping, hiking, hunting, road trips, boating, skiing, and building family homes. Joan was a den mother in cub scouts, little league scorekeeper and dispatched local volunteer firemen using a radio transmitter in her kitchen.

Joan worked as a clerk for the telephone company both in Michigan and in Washington. Additionally, she and her daughter owned and operated a house cleaning company in Redmond for 10 years.

Joan and Cork loved to travel and were fortunate to visit dozens of countries in Europe and also Australia prior to retirement. Following retirement, they moved to American Samoa as Cork accepted a two-year government contract. Living in the south Pacific allowed them easy access to explore the Asia-Pacific region. Upon their return to the mainland Joan and Cork lived full time in an RV while they travelled the US and Canada for eight years. They finally settled in Sun City West in Arizona where they enjoyed the "dry heat" for twenty-three years. In 2015, they returned to Washington and lived in Anacortes nearer to their family.

Joan maintained friendships with many people they met during their travels and enjoyed exchanging handwritten letters penned with her beautiful handwriting and then by email. Friends and family could always count on receiving a newsy letter each Christmas with updates on their lives, as well as the accomplishments of their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Joan will be remembered most for love of her family, the orchestra, traveling, genealogy, passion for politics, summer corn roasts, nightly happy hour and always having available a dish of hard candies. She also enjoyed playing in the symphony, a rousing game of bridge, mahjong, gardening, needlework, and refinishing furniture.

Joan was preceded in death by her husband of 72 years, one son and a granddaughter. She is survived by a brother, sister, three children and their spouses, a daughter-in-law, six grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren.

There will be no memorial service and instead Cork and Joan's ashes will be spread together along the Oregon Coast in the summertime.

Joan's family wishes to thank the highly professional staff at Lighthouse Memory Care in Anacortes for the love and devotion to her care for the past three years. Donations may be made in her name at the Alzheimer's Association or the American Stroke Association (a division of the American Heart Association).

To  view her photo gallery, and to share memories please bookmark this direct link to her website: www.evanschapel.com/obituary/joan-mcdanold