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Joan Marie Ryan (McGavick)

Joan Marie Ryan (McGavick) was born on March 5, 1934, to parents Joseph “Gerald” Ryan and Minnie Justina (Broghammer) Ryan in Fremont Township, Iowa. She attended Coldwater Country School for a year and a half before the family moved to a farm in Winneshiek County in 1942. Joan attended the Public School in Ridgeway, Iowa, graduating from Ridgeway High School as valedictorian in 1951. She then worked for a year at the Farm Bureau Office in Decorah, Iowa. She moved to Williston, N.D., working for Decker Construction Company and transferring with that company to Worland, Wyo. When construction was halted due to winter weather, she moved to Yakima, Wash., where she worked at St. Elizabeth Hospital.

It was there she met the Sisters of Providence, joining the Order as a postulant in July 1953 at the Novitiate in Seattle, Wash. Joan made her profession in 1955, taking the religious name of Sister Josepha. She worked for the Provincial Administration in Seattle in the finance office for eight years. During this time she attended Seattle University, receiving a Bachelor of Commercial Science degree with a major in accounting, graduating Magna Cum Laude in 1961. She was also awarded the Dean’s Scholarship Award for the School of Finance, which was given for outstanding scholastic achievement. She assisted in setting up and installing a Cost Accounting System in the nine hospitals run by the Sisters of Providence. She then spent six months at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Burbank, Calif. in the finance office. Following this, she was asked to audit the nine hospitals, 14 schools, and three homes for the aged owned by the Sisters of Providence and located from Burbank, Calif., to Fairbanks, Alaska. At the completion of the audits, she was assigned to Providence Hospital in Anchorage, Alaska, as comptroller. Joan left the Order in June, 1963.

After spending some time at home, she returned to Anchorage, working for Wallace Motor Company for a short time period. She then took a job with the Alaska Area Native Health Service, which is part of the Indian Health Service of the U.S. Government. Joan spent 22 years working as Fiscal Accounting Supervisor, Budget Officer, and finally Accounting Officer. Her job entailed a great deal of travel. The area office in Anchorage was responsible for the accounting for the Alaska Native Hospitals in Barrow, Bethel, Kanakanak, Kotzebue, Nome, Tanana, Fairbanks, and Mt. Edgecombe, as well as many health clinics in smaller towns throughout the State of Alaska. Joan traveled to these locations to do audits and to train local personnel on accounting procedures and payroll. She also traveled quite extensively throughout the lower 48 states for financial management meetings at other Indian Health Area Offices and to the headquarters in Washington, D.C. Vacations took Joan on many camping and fishing trips throughout Alaska, several trips to the Lower 48, as well as to Paris, France; Rome, Italy; Assisi, Italy; Jerusalem and the Holy Land, and a trip to Ireland.

Joan married Joseph McGavick on Jan. 17, 1985, “inheriting” two stepchildren in the bargain, Sharon Marie McGavick and John Leo McGavick. Joan retired from Federal Service in July 1987. “Retired” is a misnomer, as she stayed busy with several multi-level marketing companies, a home business of preparing tax returns for clients and overseeing the management of rental units they owned. This included two fourplexes in Anchorage, eight fourplexes in Tacoma, Wash., and 26 multi-sized units in San Diego, Calif. Regular travel to these locations was also necessary.

Leo retired from the FAA with 28 years of federal service in 1991. In 1992, Joan and Leo sold their home in Anchorage and spent one year in their own rental units in Tacoma while their new retirement home was being built in Hayden, Idaho. They moved there in 1993.

Over the years, they sold all of their rental units, acquiring a ranch and lots in Sandpoint, Idaho, in their stead. By the year 2004, all of this property had been liquidated. They eliminated many of their tax clients; however, they still maintained a small tax business. Since moving to Idaho, both Leo and Joan have done volunteer work for the VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) Program, an IRS program which provided free tax services to middle to low income clients, as well as senior citizens.

Joan and Leo have done extensive traveling throughout the United States. Their travels have included several cruises as well, including one through the Bahamas on the Windstar Sailing Ship, another to Cozumel, Mexico; Jamaica, and the Grand Bahamas. The best one of all was the cruise up the inside passage to Alaska.

A funeral service for Joan will be Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2020, at 11 a.m. at St. Pius X Catholic Church, 625 E Haycraft Ave., Coeur d’Alene, ID 83815, with a reception to follow at St. Pius X.

Please visit Joan’s online memorial at www.yatesfuneralhomes.com