About
The Passionate of Writers
I grew up near a state teaching college, and my education began, in a sense, as someone else’s practice ground. Through the end of sixth grade, I attended the college’s summer school, where student teachers learned their profession by working with children like me. Looking back, I believe that experience planted the idea of teaching in my mind long before I chose it for myself.
At fourteen, my parents enrolled me in a secretarial school to learn typing. I was the youngest student in the class by several years, studying alongside high school graduates and working women. Those skills quickly opened professional doors. During the summers before and throughout college, I worked in the main office of what is now CIGNA, typing agents’ proposals and covering the reception desk for the company’s top agent whenever he traveled.
I have lived, I have learned, and now I share my story just as it is.
Joanne
As graduation approached, the company offered me a position as a traveling supervisor of its offices. I declined the opportunity and chose the classroom instead
I earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Education and later completed a Master of Science in Elementary Education. My teaching career began in Connecticut, where I taught first and second grade before accepting a full-time substitute position in Meriden. After moving to Ohio, I continued working as a substitute teacher in St. Clairsville.
From 1974 to 1977, I served an elected three-year term on the nine-member Board of Education in Berlin, Connecticut. The position was nonpartisan, unpaid, and entirely voluntary. I began my term as Secretary and served as President during my final year. During that time, the board worked through a teacher strike and appointed a new Superintendent of Schools.
In the mid-1980s, my husband decided to open his own office, and I was determined to help establish the business on a firm foundation. I enrolled in the H&R Block course and trained to prepare tax returns, learning the tax code line by line.
Because computerized tax and accounting programs were not yet available, I completed every tax return, ledger entry, and business record by hand. I organized the books, managed the paperwork, and handled the financial responsibilities behind the scenes so my husband could concentrate on serving his clients.
In 1998, I returned to teaching at a charter school serving underprivileged children in Fort Pierce, Florida. From 2000 to 2015, I taught third grade and served as grade chair for two of those years. I later spent three years as a K-3 reading coach before returning to the classroom, where I completed my career teaching second grade.
Throughout my years in education, I regularly participated in parent-teacher meetings with administrators and worked to ensure that teachers’ concerns and perspectives reached the people responsible for making important decisions.
After my husband passed away, I volunteered for a year as a mentor at the Hope School of Autism in Stuart, Florida. The school then hired me for two additional years, during which I helped teachers prepare classroom materials and managed the front desk whenever assistance was needed.
Today, I belong to my local library’s monthly book club, where we gather to discuss our latest selection and often discover that our different opinions make the conversations even more meaningful. I also maintain a free library in my front yard for children and adults.
Anyone in the neighborhood can borrow a book or leave another in its place. Children stop by on their way home from school, while parents browse the shelves with their young children. What began as a small personal project has become a neighborhood fixture, supported by neighbors who regularly donate books and help keep the shelves stocked.
After a lifetime of teaching children to read, I now have the joy of watching a love of reading grow directly outside my front door.
I have lived through many seasons of life, each one shaping the woman, mother, educator, and writer I am today. I have experienced happiness and hardship, faced loss, accepted responsibility, and made choices that helped me grow. Through every stage, my family has remained at the center of my life, giving me love, purpose, and strength.
Writing became a way for me to reflect on my experiences and understand my life more deeply. My book is not simply a collection of poems. It is a personal story told from the heart through real memories, genuine emotions, and lessons gathered over time.
I hope my words help readers feel seen, understood, and less alone. Above all, I hope my writing reminds others that every life, no matter how quiet it may appear, has meaning, purpose, and value.