Joan M Cann was born in Fallon, NV on October 20, 1937, to Sterling and Harriet Lima and passed away at her home on March 4, 2024. She was 86 years old.
Even though she called her parents' ranch on Lima Lane home, she spent a lot of time living at various locations in Nevada and Arizona. Her father was a mechanic for Dodge Construction Company that helped build the roads which we enjoy driving on today. She fondly talked about living at Parker Dam where her and her brother would fish and get frogs. As she got older and instead of traveling with her parents, she stayed across the street with her grandmother and attended school in Fallon. While in high school, she met Beale “Skip” Cann and later married him in the Methodist Church. After graduating from Churchill County High School, she focused on her husband and raising her five children.
Skip and Joan purchased Creamland Dairy from his parents in 1970 where she was the brains of the operation and he “did what he was told.” They were truly partners in this endeavor and when the kids got old enough, they participated in all the areas of the operation. This is where she taught her kids the most valuable lesson they learned; how to be a productive member of society. This is not the only thing she taught them, she taught them the necessary basics to survive, like cooking, cleaning and planning for tomorrow. She was truly a role model, and we feel that our mama was perfect.
She even found time to help other young people. She led several 4-H clubs, but we believe her favorite was leading the Swine Club. Their daughter got into 4-H at an early age and started with sheep, but the screen door did not fare well, so she moved on to pigs. Mom and Dad liked them so well, that for the next 20+ years they built pens, barns and acquired the necessary tools to have a successful operation consisting of 100 or more animals.
As retirement approached, she moved on from the manure shovel to focus on themselves and later her grandchildren. She never forgot a grandchild’s name, birthday, age or where they lived and enjoyed seeing them on one of their many treks across the North American continent. She always sewed, but she developed a knack and desire for making quilts. Our proudest moments of her quilt making was when she anonymously gave to groups that found families in need, especially ones with babies. I am sure she kept an infant warm on cold nights.
She was preceded in death by her parents, brother Lloyd “Bud” Lima and her sister Janet Lima. She is survived by her husband of 69 years, children Beale “Joey” (Susan), Steve (Rena), Larry “John” (Karen), Florence “Lori” Lively (Jim) and Kevin (Michon), 17 grandchildren and 30 great-grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, please donate to your local 4-H program or FFA chapter.
Memorial service will be at The Gardens on March 14, 2024, at 11:00am. For those who want to attend the burial, it will occur at 1:00pm but no service at that time.
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