Mary Joy Langley

Mother, Entertainer and Friend

On May 14, 2025, Mary Joy Langley flew like an eagle to be with her Lord and Saviour, and to join her beloved son Robert and her loving father Arnold Dawson. Those who predeceased her and now join her are her sister Judy, mother’s Hazel and Allison, grandpa‘s Allan James Langley and Donald Sharp, loves of her life Art Corps, John Joseph MacMullin, Douglas Kirkham and Bill Pennings, as well as a long line of greeters as far as the eye can see that were loved by her or learned to love because of her.

Mary Joy was the love that carried 9 children and 55 grandchildren through the tumults of life in a world of entertainment and business. As independent and adventurous as any young woman could be in the 1940s, Joy chased every dream from the age of 16 and conquered so many obstacles along the way. The name Mary Joy was synonymous with love, joy, grit and sheer willpower. When the world said she should be seen (she was very beautiful) and not heard, Mary Joy decided to sing from the mountain tops, all the way to being voted the best female vocalist in Ontario, Canada, and appearing on TV shows like The Tommy Hunter Show. Mary Joy’s hero was Dolly Parton, who she got a chance to meet at the Toronto airport when Dolly loved her perfume so much that she stopped Joy in the airport to ask what she wore (Chanel N°5). The meeting was a life’s dream come true for Joy, to meet a woman who she felt knew her joy and struggle in life. When one of life‘s detours hit and Joy could no longer sing, she transformed her life and became JoJo, the singing, dancing magical clown, One of the premier children’s entertainers in Western Canada.  Joy appeared in thousands of events with friends like Fred Penner, Valdy, Sharon, Lois and Bram, Norman Foote and Eric Nagler, but Joy never missed the opportunity to add joy to the life of a single sick child in the hospital or do a backyard party for a five-year-old. Her greatest joy was to entertain with her own family who to this day have carried on the “Tradition of Joy” with balloon companies, magicians, singers and song writers and clowns, as well as health care workers, business owners and entrepreneurs, armed forces hero’s and loving mothers and fathers.

To the world, Joy was bigger than life. To Joy, her children were her life. James, Debra, John Wayne, Stephan, Allan, Robert, Scott, Daniel, and Donald and 55 grandchildren, never ever had a doubt for even one second of their lives that mom loved them.

The Word says that God is Love and that is true. Equally true is that Mary Joy is God‘s reflection of Love, as she lived, and she will always live in the hearts of everyone who ever knew her.

Well done, Mary Joy, enter into the joy of the Lord.

 

Services for Joy were held at Eden’s Funeral Home in Coaldale, Alberta, on May 22, 2025. Interment followed in the Coaldale Community Cemetery. 

Any donations can be made to the Sunny South Lodge,1112-20th Avenue, Coaldale, AB. T1M 1L4

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