Joan Donovan (3 Jan 1923 - 24 Mar 2018)

In loving memory of Joan Donovan who passed away on 24th March 2018

With her Australian mother and English father it probably wasn't a surprise that Joan developed a love of travel at an early age. Born in 1923 in Winnipeg, Manitoba in the Canadian prairies thousands of miles inland she first glimpsed the ocean as a schoolgirl when she travelled to London with her parents.

Settling in England after WW2 she met her husband Patrick at work in the Civil Service. Marrying in 1950 in St Mary's Church Caterham, they bought a house in Purley.

But Mum chafed against the 'marriage rule' which decreed that a woman had to leave work in the Civil Service on marriage. She decided to challenge that rule and after a considerable period of letter writing she became the first part-time British civil servant, returning to work as an audio typist; using what was a new technology at that time.

She once told us, “Travel has given me an education I did not get in school”

She always encouraged us her daughters to achieve against any odds, to challenge 'stupid rules', to think for ourselves and to stand up for our decisions

We are proud of her legacy

#PioneerMum