Genealogy of the Lowe-Bader Family of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Biography: Joanne Cornelia Bader (1920-1976)

Biography written using information available as of February 11, 2014.

Joanne Cornelia Bader 1920-1976
Joanne Cornelia Bader was born 12 June 1919 in Warmond, Holland. She was the 12th child of Adrianus Theodorus (Adrian) Bader and Johanna van Leeuwen. Joanne’s father was a journalist and town elder. Her mother, as you can imagine, had no time for anything other than caring for her 13 offspring.

In the early 1920s, two of Joanne's older brothers worked their passage on a ship to North America as bakers in the kitchen. They then found work at a small bakery in Washington State and eventually sent for the rest of the family with the plan of settling in Washington State and buying the bakery they were working in.

The family sold up everything they had to move to North America, ending up on Vancouver. Joanne grew up in Vancouver working in the family’s bakery, which was located in the Cedar Cottage neighbourhood of Vancouver, and their home was just around the corner. She was an avid softball player and played on a championship team.

During the second world war, she met James Edward Lowe — Jim — and they were married on 11 February 1942. Jim was in the navy and worked as a cook in the mess on several ships. Joanne followed him from port to port in British Columbia when she could, finding jobs as a driver. The rest of the time she lived in Vancouver, probably working at Bader’s Bakery.

Vancouver Sun newspaper 11 February 1942

After the war, with her background in baking and his military cooking experience, the couple decided to start a bakery of their own. Lowe's Bakery opened in Burnaby in 1946. They had their first child, Theresa, in 1948. But operating a bakery and making a profit was difficult and in 1950 they closed up shop. Jim found other work, and in 1951, the had their second child, Michael, and then in 1953 they had another daughter, Maureen.

With a growing family, they moved into a house at 2141 Scarboro in the Fraserview neighbourhood of south-east Vancouver in 1952 through the Veteran's Land Act (VLA). Anne Marie (Casey) was born in 1955, Kathleen in 1958 and finally their last child, Philip, was born in 1959. Joanne spent the 1950s and early 1960s raising her six children.

Joanne was active in the ladies auxiliary of her church, Corpus Christi, working on committees and fundraising. Her younger brother had become a priest and the family had strong connections to the Roman Catholic religion, and she was involved with other Catholic charity work as well.

Joanne working at the Bader's Dutch Bakeries booth at the Pacific National Exhibition

When her children were all in school, Joanne returned to working at her family's cookie factory, Bader's Dutch Bakeries Limited, and worked there as a cookie packer into the 1970s. At the end of the 1960s, she and Jim divorced. She eventually stopped working to focus on raising the children who were still living at home, but continued to do volunteer work. She delivered meals for Meals-on Wheels and helped run a half-way house through Catholic charities. She had a soft spot for a hard luck story and often helped those in need who she met through the community.

Joanne enjoyed gardening and travelling, although she didn’t get to do nearly as much travelling as she’d have liked. But she often took trips to visit her siblings who were living in Alberta, Washington State and California. Joanne had a wicked sense of humour and enjoyed playing practical jokes — something she inherited from her large family. She also liked card games, old movies, and wildlife documentaries.

In 1975, Joanne was diagnosed with oesophagus cancer (everyone smoked back then), and after an 18-month battle with the disease, she died on 16 December 1976.

No comments:

Post a Comment

To prevent spam, all comments are reviewed before being posted. Thank-you for your patience.