Joan Elizabeth Tweed

Joan Elizabeth Tweed was born to Marvin & Mary Elizabeth Tweed in San Diego, California on May the sixteenth 1942. She was the youngest of the four Tweed girls, Diane, Elaine, Judy and then Joan. She spent her childhood in Spring Valley in the house on Del Rio Road that 5 generations have passed through over the years. She attended Mount Miguel High School where she was on the drill team and graduated in 1961.

The next few decades of Joan’s life were in many ways tumultuous but also created beauty and life. Her first daughter Kimberly Anne Bragg (now Taylor) was born in 1959. She married Price Bethel and gave birth to her second daughter, Shannon Kathleen Bethel (now Condon), in 1964. She raised her daughters mostly as a single mom and made sacrifices to send her daughters to private Christian schools for their elementary grades even when her own beliefs were uncertain.

She bought her home in 1971 at 29 years of old in Casa de Oro where she would spend the next 51 years.

Joan met Joseph Bieda in 1976 and they married under the avocado tree in front of that home and became a team remodeling it.

She became a grandmother for the first time in 1981 and was “Maama” to Brooke, Jenelle, Jared, Trevor, Tatum and Tori. She hosted Sunday dinners for 16 years and built a lifetime of memories. She was also a great grandmother, but still “Maama” to Logan, Caleb, Emery and Joshua.

Joan became a widow unexpectedly in February of 1987. It was a difficult time, but in October of that year Joan received Christ and her world turned around.

Having struggled with alcohol, Joan attended her first 12 step meeting and never turned back. She was involved with the steps for almost 35 years. Joan also found a deep calling to help others. She was a support to many throughout the years and gave of her time to encourage many.

She realized she wanted to invest in people and began her education to become a holistic health practitioner. She was able to retire from Kaiser in 1997, and helped many through healing touch all the way up until age 75. She also gave back generously to her community and was part of the Casa De Oro business association for many years.

Joan always had a taste for excitement. In her younger years that was problematic, but it led to many wonderful adventures and travel in her later years. She became certified in SCUBA, bought a fifth wheel and drove it around the country, went skydiving, took a cruise in Greece, visited Israel, and even traveled to Myanmar at the age of 77!

Joan had a passion for learning and went on numerous educational and spiritual retreats. In 2007, she met John Lancaster on a retreat in Mexico during one of her many trips and they spent the next 15 years on many adventures together.

Joan was a free spirit, compassionate, funny, and adventurous and will be missed by all!