Joann Nordensson

4/13/1920 – 9/29/2010
Joann Nordensson passed away September 29, 2010 at the age of 90.  Born April 13, 1920 to parents Dominic and Grace (Mardesich) Stanovich in Bellingham, WA, Joann grew up on the “south side” in the Fairhaven area with her brothers, Martin and Tony.
Joann was very active in operatic theater.  She graduated from Bellingham High School in 1941.  She moved to Lummi Island with her mom in the summer of 194o to work in one of the fish canneries, where she met and married local island man Don Smith.  Together they had three children, Donna, Manly, and DeLayne.
When Joann became a single parent, she started a laundry business that lasted for many years.  In 1952, she married long time island bachelor Jacob Nordensson.  They had a daughter, Karlene.
After Jacob passed away, Joann began work at the Lummi Island Post Office, retiring from there in 1982.  After retirement, she traveled a bit, visiting her brothers, numerous relatives in the San Pedro area, and her friends in Alaska.
She started a cookie baking business, selling at the farmer’s market on the island and is known by many as the ‘cookie lady.’  She retired from that business on her 80th birthday.
Joann was active in all the organizations on the island and was actually a charter member of many.  She was one of the people who started the Lummi Island Fire Department.  She belonged to the Grange, Civic Club, the Lummi Island Congregational Church, Beach School P.T.A., the Chubby Wubby Gourment Society, the Lummi Island Community Club, and Lummi Island Mermaids to name just a few.  If there was an island social function, Joann was always in attendance.  She loved people, and playing cards and board games with her family and friends.  She earned many aways and was recognized many times in the community for her volunteer efforts.
Cooking, masonry, carpentry, sewing, and crocheting were passions of Joann’s.  She loved dancing, singing, drumming, and writing poetry.  Being a gifted artist, she made any utilitarian object into art.
Her grandchildren were very important to her.  Her home was the focus of all holiday gatherings.
A large woman physically, Joann was also a large woman in her emotions, and expressed herself freely and without hesitation.  She had enormous pride in family.
When her health became a serious issue in 1996, she was diagnosed at not living long enough to see her next birthday (which was 6 days away!)  She chose not to agree with the diagnosis and lived 14 more years.
She was preceded in death by her parents, two brothers, husbands, her daughter DeLayne, and her granddaughter Rachael.  She is survived by her children Donna Smith, Manly Smith, and Karlene Nordensson; grandchildren Tim Drafs, Brad Drafs, Emily Kentch, Nicky Smith, Amanda Harryman, Cinnamon Rose, Joe Smith, Hannah Smith, Earl Cunningham, and Ry MacDonald.  She is also survived by three great-grandchildren Leanna Matter, Lance Drafs, and Tyler Bennet; along with close friends Norma Bohl, Naomi Jarvie, and Steven Schneider.
Reverend Marilyn Miller will lead the community memorial service celebrating her life at the Lummi Island Grange Hall on Friday, October 8th from 4-6 PM.
In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Lummi Island Fire Department or the Boys and Girls Club of Lummi Island.
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Remembering Joann….
When one lives in a small community for 70 years, one is bound to make some kind of impression…and Joann always made an impression.  She came to Lummi Island with her mother in 1940 to work with her mother in the fish canneries.  She met and married Don Smith.  After Donna, Manly, and DeLayne were born, Joann found herself as a single parent.  Life was a bit tough on the island for a single woman, especially when the canneries disappeared, but Joann survived by starting a laundry business (washer boards and flat irons), harvesting food from the shore and the land, sending her little kids out for wood, or gathering bark from the beaches.  She married Jacob Nordensson in 1952 and had her fourth child, Karlene.  Basic survival was time consuming, but Joann made the time to be an active member if not charter member of many organizations on the island.  She was proud of her heritage, her community, and her family.  Physically large, Joann was also large with her opinions and emotions: she spoke her mind freely and without hesitation, hand on her hip, finger in the air.  Some folks might remember her as the cookie baker at the market, the lady at the post office, the berry bus driver with dangling rhinestone earrings, the artist, the singer.  Many new islanders don’t even know Joann, as her illness has taken her from the island these last few years.  So for those who didn’t get to meet her, think of her when you hear the siren….it is volunteer efforts like hers that makes that siren sound.