Gold Coast remembers woman in red Joan Stuart, who has passed away at the age of 97
Tributes have been paid to popular Burleigh identity Joan Stuart, known for her sense of humour and her love of wearing red, who passed away this week.
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SHE wore nothing but red for a decade and laughed every day.
Gold Coast stalwart and former beauty pageant queen Joan Stuart died after a brief illness this week. She was 97.
Mrs Stuart competed in the original Miss Australia Quest and was crowned Miss Toowoomba, Miss Darling Downs, Miss Western Queensland and the Miss Queensland runner-up before settling on the Gold Coast with husband Ray in the late 1940s.
She was a regular sight at Stuart’s Newsagents, which the couple owned for 27 years, in Burleigh and was a magnet for community projects.
With a larger-than-life personality Mrs Stuart was fiercely independent, living at home and continuing to drive her car until a shoulder replacement at 89 motivated her to move into the Ozanam Villa aged care home in Burleigh Heads.
She was a kind woman who took joy in meeting people, her daughter Julie Stuart told the Bulletin.
“She loved people and she always remembered everyone’s birthdays,” she said.
“As soon as she met you she’d say ‘hello’, pay you a compliment and write down when your birthday was so that she could send a card.”
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Ms Stuart said her mother was still active and passionate about the community in her final weeks.
The proud grandmother and great grandmother was the life of the party during family get-togethers.
“She had a great sense of humour. At Christmas time she got dressed up in her Santa outfit, we would laugh all the time.”
The daughter of international rugby league player Duncan Thompson, Mrs Stuart was schooled in Toowoomba before working at the Commonwealth Bank as an inquiries clerk. She then moved to the Coast
“In 1949 Burleigh was a sleepy little village and everybody knew everybody so mum was a real identity,” Ms Stuart said.
“Mum and Dad both really helped to build Burleigh Heads. They were involved in every service club.”
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Mrs Stuart also worked as a Lifeline counsellor for 25 years and on the foundation board for 4CRB community radio. She was also the “Burleigh Bird” correspondent at the Gold Coaster newspaper for many years.
Mrs Stuart took final communion, slipped into a coma and passed away peacefully at Pindara Private Hospital on Wednesday.
Friends are invited to join family for the funeral at St John’s Anglican Church, Burleigh Heads, on Wednesday, April 3, at 12pm. A wake will be held at the church hall.
Attendees are encouraged to wear the colour red.
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