Death Notices

MALONEY, Joan Mavis (nee Goddard) 1933 – 2020 - of Simcoe, died peacefully on Friday, February 28th, 2020 in her 87th year.  Beloved wife of Mike Maloney of Simcoe.  Joan was born in Hayes, Middlesex, England.  She emigrated to Canada in 1955 to further her studies in music and vocal training.  She was first trained at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, and was awarded a full scholarship to the University Faculty of Music after a few years because of her outstanding voice and performing ability.  Her faculty teacher, Irene Jessner, had sung at New York’s Metropolitan Opera for 16 years, and considered Joan one of the two best sopranos she had ever taught.  (Teresa Stratas was the other)  With her outstanding interpretive ability, Joan’s scholarship was extended an extra year for training in German Lieder (art song).  Joan had been trained primarily to sing a number a great operatic roles for which her powerful soprano (spinto) voice was suited.  Following graduation from the Faculty of Music, she was preparing to audition at a number of European opera houses, when she was struck down by cancer.  The illness was so advanced that, although she had extensive surgery and radiation, her doctors gave her only three months to live.  Having left the hospital, she gave a major concert five weeks later. Though she was barely able to stand, her magnificent voice was undimmed.  In the following years, Joan went through psychotherapy, all the while teaching singing privately and in the Catholic school system.  She gave public concerts in the greater Toronto area, including at the CNE.  She expanded into composing and broadcasting, doing an outstanding series of children’s story concerts with Margaret Norquay at Toronto radio station CJRT.  She wrote scripts and performed her music on Mr. Dressup.  Her poetry and short stories were published in school textbooks by Gage and McDonald House.  Her singing classes, run through local learning groups, drew on her extensive knowledge of yoga, relaxation techniques, and psychotherapy.  They attracted people from all walks of life - actors, doctors, lawyers, engineering students, singers, and people simply longing to express themselves musically.  In June of 1981, she married Mike Maloney, an actor and teacher at Seneca College.  Desiring to escape big-city life, have more creative freedom and work for the environment, Joan and Mike moved to Port Rowan, Ontario in 1987.  There they also founded a publishing company, The Pierswell Press, through which Joan published her well-known manual of exercises and relaxation techniques for singers, Singing for the Joy of It.  A collection of stories and poems for children followed, along with two short novels.  In 2005 Joan put together a concert of historical songs and poems and presented them as a concert at St. Mary’s Church.  Salt and Light Catholic Television saw a tape of the concert, and arranged a new taping with a full production company at St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church in Simcoe.  The tape was broadcast on religious stations in Canada and the United States as well.  This inspired Joan to compose music dramas and oratorios and to perform them for the next twelve years.  Mostly performed at St. Mary’s Church, her last concert was given at the Norfolk Arts Centre in December, 2018.  Joan’s books and sheet music is sold in England by Banks Music Publications and can be bought in Canada or the U.S. from Mike Maloney, Joan’s husband and partner, in Simcoe.  Joan’s body will be interred next to her mother in the Port Dover Cemetery on the Blue Line Road, on Monday, March 2nd, 2020 at 1:00 p.m. with Deacon John Doomernik officiating.  A memorial Mass, followed by a reception will be celebrated at St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church in the next few weeks, with the date and time to be announced.  Arrangements entrusted to the JASON SMITH FUNERAL CHAPEL, 689 Norfolk St. North Simcoe.  Personal online condolences at www.smithfuneralchapel.com  (519) 426-0199