Joan Marie (Jo) Arends

Joan Marie (Jo) Arends passed away Saturday, Feb 10 peacefully and painlessly into the hands of the Lord. Jo was born in Windsor, Ontario Canada, October 6, 1936.

Her family moved to California when she was 16. She immediately had to go to work to help support her family. While working for the gas company in L.A., she met her soon-to-be first husband, Merle Arends.

Jo was an energetic and strong personality who succeeded in everything she tried. Not satisfied with her realtor when they bought a home in Hacienda Heights, she got her own RE license and embarked on what would be a very successful career selling homes and investing in real estate herself.

The family ultimately moved to Fallbrook in 1982, where she started Maverick Real Estate Co. with two partners. Using a 'spec' lot on a hill overlooking Fallbrook, she designed and built a beautiful, one of a kind contemporary home.

During her life, Jo also obtained a private pilot's license and was a member of the 99's, a female flying club in Fallbrook. Her husband died of a heart attack in 1986.

Jo continued to sell real estate and acquired several rental properties and apartments and in 2001 she met Tony Ward. They married in 2006 aboard a river boat in Laughlin, Nevada.

The two loved to travel and were always on the move going somewhere, from Australia to China to South America, Canada, Alaska and Hawaii. They seemed to always have a bag packed.

Jo leaves her husband Tony; two daughters, Tracey and Shelly, their husbands, two granddaughters, three grandsons, one great-grandson and a sister.

Jo was an inspiration to everyone that met her. She will be sorely missed. There will be a Celebration of Life sometime in April after her ashes are scattered at sea.