Joan Ryan McGavick

Wednesday, January 15, 2020 5:00 pm

Joan Ryan McGavick, 85, of Hayden, Idaho, passed away Jan. 4, 2020, at Honeysuckle Assisted Living Center in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Funeral services were Monday, Jan. 13, at St. Pius X Catholic Church in Coeur d’ Alene.

Joan was born in Fremont Township, Winneshiek County, March 5, 1934, to Joseph “Gerald” and Minnie (Broghammer) Ryan. She attended Cold War Country School for a year and a half before moving to Ridgeway with her family in 1942. She graduated from high school as valedictorian of her class in 1951.

Following graduation, jobs took her from Decorah, to North Dakota, Wyo. And then Yakima, Wash. It was there that she joined the Sister of Providence. She left the order in 1963 and by then was living in Anchorage, Alaska. She worked for the Alaska Native Health Service for 22 years.

Joan married Leo McGavick Jan. 17, 1985, in Las Vegas, Nev. She retired in July of 1987, but she and Leo continued with a home tax business and the management of many rental units. They moved into their new home in Hayden, Idaho in 1993.

Joan is survived by her step-daughter, Sharon McGavick; step-son, John McGavick; step-granddaughter, Doris Bell; siblings Anna Myers, Ridgeway; Tom (Elsie) Ryan, Cresco; Gerry Sorenson, Decorah; and Dean (Marcie) Ryan, Cresco; sisters-in-law, Ellen Ryan and Tish (Dr. Hugh) Toomey; brother-in-law, Virgil (Joan) Henry; and numerous nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Leo McGavick; her parents, Gerald and Minnie (Broghammer) Ryan; siblings: Paul (Evelyn) Ryan, Mary Henry, Phil Ryan and Robert Ryan; brothers-in-law, Gene Myers and Lester Sorenson; sister-in-law, Rosalie (Jim) Hopper; niece, Diane Bruening; great-niece, Jennifer Zweibohmer; and great-nephew, Nicholas Sorenson.