With great sadness, we report the death of Dr. Joanne Lee Holtby on Nov. 23, 2022. Joanne was born on Sept. 17, 1958, in Redvers, Sask.; the fourth child of Beulah Marie Holtby and Dr. Malcolm Clifford Holtby.
After schooling in Brockport, New York, and in Toronto at Havergal and North Toronto Collegiate, she attended MacMaster University, the University of Guelph and Memorial University where she obtained her medical degree in 1989. She developed an interest in psychiatry, working at Waterford Psychiatric Hospital in St. Johns and North Bay Psychiatric Hospitals before completing her psychiatric residency at the University of Toronto and practicing as a psychiatrist in North Bay until her retirement in July 2017.
She married Peter Sloan in 1994 and had two children, John, who died tragically in 2017, and Jodie. Though trained in orthodox medicine, Joanne was drawn to more spiritual and holistic outlooks on life and existence, and following her divorce from Peter, she found a soul mate in Milan Likon who loved and supported her through her tragic final illness and untimely death.
There was sadness and tragedy in Joanne's life, which her spirituality enabled her to overcome. Our recollections of her are overwhelmingly of her smile and the joy she appreciated and transmitted in the animals, flowers and sunshine of her world, and her love for Jodie, Milan and her family and many friends. Personal recollections are of a beautiful little girl splashing in pools with her siblings, her playing her trumpet at kitchen parties in the Battery, at home on their little farm with Peter and children, her joy at swimming with dolphins and sharing her Costa Rica dream with Milan in her final years.
Joanne is survived by Jodie and Milan; her mother, Beulah; her siblings, Janey Donaldson, Richard Holtby and Jennifer Lund; and many nieces and nephews. In memory of Joanne, please support mental health care wherever you can.