Friends and family are mourning the loss of Marelene ‘JoAnne’ Martin Young, age 54, who passed away peacefully, surrounded by family on June 21.
Young is the mother of Lisa Marie Young, the Tla-o-qui-aht woman who went missing in Nanaimo June, 30, 2002. Joanne never gave up in her effort to find her daughter Lisa, age 21 at the time, who disappeared after a night out with friends.
The distraught mother made frequent trips to plaster the city with missing posters and regularly called the RCMP for updates. She and her husband organized walks and candlelight vigils every year in late June in her effort to keep her daughter’s case in the public eye.
“I try to think of different ways to keep my daughter’s memory alive so people don’t forget her…that’s my biggest worry,” she told Ha-Shilth-Sa in 2012.
At that time she shared that she suffered from serious health issues that were no doubt exacerbated by the stress and grief of not knowing what happened to her daughter.
Friends and family are gathering at Tyhistanis.
Joanne Young leaves behind her husband, Don, her sons Brian and Robin, her parents Moses Martin and Cecelia Arnet, siblings and many other family members.
