A Little Bit About Joanie

Here is Joanie at about age 14 months. The lady behind her is her Granny (her dad's mom). Joanie was born with no hair, but once it started growing in it grew in red. She has had red hair ever since. Joanie was born in Norfolk, VA, and, except for a few months in other states, she has lived in Virginia all her life. Joanie LOVES living in Virginia. She likes visiting other places, but, to her, home will always be Virginia. Joanie didn't go to kindergarten like most kids do now. Her mom didn't think it was necessary for her to go. Joanie's older sister, Joy, had already started to teach Joanie how to read and write. (Made evident by the fact that Joanie started carving Joy's name into the furniture:) When Joanie started first grade, she found that she really liked school and her teacher, Mrs. Kindred. In second grade, she didn't care for her teacher, but she made it through the year just fine. She was excited in third grade because she got to have more than one teacher, and one of them was a guy teacher, Mr. MacDonald! She really liked Mr. MacDonald because he was a good teacher and he liked to be funny and he wore really cool braces on his legs as a result of having polio when he was little. Joanie can remember staring and staring at those braces and wondering what it felt like to wear them. At the end of third grade, Joanie and her family moved across town. So, in fourth grade, she started a new school. Stay tuned, if you're really interested, we'll tell you a little more about Joanie next time.