Life Story of Joan Heather Easton

When Joan and Ray got married, she was a worker at the Commonwealth Bank and he was a school teacher. As soon as they were married, Joan decided that she did not want to be a school teacher’s wife. According to Joan, she told Ray that, “You can’t afford me on me on your salary – we’ll get a business.” After some searching, the couple discovered that a newsagency was up for sale in Burleigh Heads, a very small shop compared to Black’s grocery store next door at the southern end of Connor Street, (where Connor’s Café is now). So, with no family help and a sense for adventure, Ray and Joan bought the business, christened it ‘Ray Stuart Newsagent’ and settled in to raise their family as working parents. Ray would run the store and do the paper delivery, despite his arm injury from being shot in World War II, and Joan would do all of the book-keeping and get to know all of the Burleigh Heads residents. Joan rarely brought the children to work, preferring to leave them home with a nanny in the years before they started school. Throughout her children’s younger years, Joan loved to be active in any associations that she could. She was on the Burleigh Heads State School and Miami State High School P&C committees as her children went through both schools, became President of the Burleigh Rotary-Annes in 1962 and President of the Burleigh Golf Club, (Joan and Ray helped the community to build the golf course together) the year before. She was also involved in the Gold Coast City Choir, where she was Treasurer for many years, was on the Lady Mayoress Welfare Committee, and helped to run school tuckshops, Innerwheel (a women’s volunteer service) and Brownies. All of this happening as she raised three beautiful children. Of course, if anybody could do it, it would be Joan.

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