Joan Skalbeck of Primrose Gradations, and Primrose on Superior passed away just after 2am Tuesday morning.
Joan loved color, and I often saw her in chartreuse. She also dyed the most gorgeous fabrics I've seen!
Joan is also the reason why I have my studio, why Fiber Arts Studio exists today. Joan was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer on May 5th, 2008. Within a month of learning of her diagnosis, it really had me thinking, and I began looking for a studio and signed the lease.
When I learned she was ill, I started to look at all she was doing and all she was accomplishing. She was sucessfully and consistently dyeing and getting her fabrics out there. And she has this GORGEOUS retreat center on Lake Superior, Primrose Gradations. She was also vibrant, funny, and kind.
Her husband, Charly, was kind enough to post update on a Caring Bridge journal to keep us all up to date. He even posted yesterday, to say it was coming near the end of her battle (and she did fight it, as hard as she could), and then again this morning, letting us all know she had passed away. He is a very good man, and I could tell from his writings, that he and Joan were/are soul mates. Thank you, Charly.
I, like many other people, will miss Joan very much. The world will have less color without her in it.
7 comments:
I'm so sorry to hear of Joan's death. I didn't know her, but she sounds like a vibrant lady who lived her life well. Just the fact that she was the stimulation for your re-evaluation of your life tell me alot about BOTH of you!
God bless you and Charly and her family
Saying a prayer for Joan and her family.
I feel so beyond sad for the world losing her. Joan was so full of life, love, and color. As hard as her life had been, she deserved better. I'll think of her everytime I touch a piece of her fabric.
Hold on to the happy memories and live your life in color for her. Carolyn in Kerrville, TX
So sorry that you've lost a friend and that the world has lost one of it's stars.
I "met" Joan in her booth at a couple of the Minnesota Quilt Shows. I bought a lot of fabric from her, and I sent for more. Then she stopped the work. It isn't often that someone who works in a vendor booth makes an impression on me, but she did. I guess that speaks to both her caring about her products and her human connection to her customers.
I was at the Mn Quilt Show yesterday in Duluth and I did think of her, that she no longer had a booth. I didn't know that she was so ill, and now gone. May God bless all her friends and family with many good memories.
Thank you so much for posting this information about Joan. I was cleaning out my studio today and I picked up a piece of her fabric and wondered how she was doing with her battle. She came up to me last year at Quilt Market, gave me a big hug, and told me her story. We both used to vend at a lot of the same quilt shows.
She was such a talented lady and she worked so hard to make her business successful. She stayed on my mind all day and I decided to look up Primrose Gradations to see if I could get her phone number to give her a call. I was so saddened to see the news of her death on your site.
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