PORTAPIQUE, N.S. — Just an old red door nestled among a tall stand of lilac bushes.
But to Joanne Thomas it was a sight to behold and one she revelled in every time she drove past on her way to or from their home on Portapique Beach Road.
“We are gathering in front of this red door in Portapique, Nova Scotia, because it was one of Joanne’s favourite spots,” said friend Rhonda MacLellan, who hosted the small memorial on Thursday, April 30.
Joanne and her husband John Zahl were among the 22 victims who died at the hands of the mass murderer who carried out a 13-hour killing spree from Portapique to Enfield on April 18 and 19.
“Hopefully, this memorial can offer some love and give a bit of closure to the remarkable lives of Joanne and John,” she said.
MacLellan, who is a musician, read her memorial and played several violin tunes for about a dozen people gathered on the front lawn in front of the red door.
The property, along Highway 2, belongs to Glenn and Judy Boyd. The house, which is about 150 years old, was his ancestral family home and is where he was born 81 years ago.
“It was probably on the house when I was born here,” Boyd said, of the red, wooden storm door containing four small panes of glass.
When it was removed from the front of the house about five years ago, however, family members did not want to see it thrown away, so it was placed amidst the lilac bushes that bloom in all their splendor each summer.
And, it was the beauty of those flowers surrounding the red door that caught Joanne’s eye as she drove past, often stopping to take pictures in the process.
“Joanne Thomas took pictures of it and she loved the door,” Boyd said.
The one and only time he spoke with her, was when she drove in the yard one day a couple of years ago to present him with one of her favourite pictures.
“And that’s how we met her and we haven’t seen her since,” he said. “She drove in the yard, gave me the picture and thanked me for the door and that’s the last we saw of her.”
During the memorial, MacLellan described herself as one of “thousands of friends that Joanne and John have all over the world.”
Joanne, 58, was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba. John, 69, was born in Morris, Minnesota. They met in 1985 while Joanne was working in North Dakota, and two months later they were married.
John was a Vietnam War veteran who served in the Navy and later worked for FedEx after retirement from the service. Joanne had spent many years working for Blue Cross. Prior to moving to Nova Scotia, the couple had been living in Albuquerque, New Mexico where they raised their family. They moved to Portapique in early 2017.
But where ever they were, MacLellan said, “they always poured out their heart, soul and love, kindness and abundant energy to their present surroundings.
“They would go do things and help people in places where many would not, because they believed in each other’s and other’s potential: despite what other people’s opinions were.”
MacLellan said the intro to Joanne’s Facebook page said: “we must not allow other people’s limited perceptions to define us.”
Carla Shaw got to know and befriended Joanne over the past two years while working together on the board of the Trauma Recovery for Exploited Youth (TREY) organization.
“She was just a wonderful, wonderful person, full of energy she would keep us organized to the nth degree. She was amazing in everything she did. It will take 10 people to replace what she could do,” Shaw said.
“She was just so encouraging with people. Everything she would say would just always be about you. She never talked about herself very much. She was just so remarkable to hang out with and she was so interested in what everyone else was doing.”
Shaw said she last spoke with Joanne on April 17, while planning a fundraiser together for TREY.
She learned of her death on the following Monday and said the news struck her “like a ton of bricks.”
“Just with disbelief, I guess,” she said.
But knowing the type of people they were, along with John’s background as a Navy veteran, her only consolation comes from her sense that they died while trying to help someone else.
“I can only believe they went next door to see what was going on to see if they could help and got caught in a horrendous, horrendous thing,” Shaw said. “And, they were also believers so I do know they had a faith that will carry them.”
