Joanne - A 95 Year Old Woman’s Look Back On Childhood.
Joanne - Sitting in her home showing off the book that her father was in for his tractors he built. - September 2026 - Photograph by Lorynn Hunt.
Friendship by friendship, connection by connection, I am invited into the wonderful world of individual’s homes and lives. It makes no difference the road that I travel or the threshold that I walk through, everyone has a story worth telling. This week I sit down with Joanne, keeping her last name private out of respect for her wish, in her home surrounded by family photos and mementos, I discovered the importance of remembrance. Maybe a better phrase would be, reminded of remembrance, because when a 95 year old and 26 year old take a moment to listen and to share, there is wisdom.
When I first met Joanne, I had entered her home knowing a few character driven stories that Becky, her daughter, had told me throughout our friendship but what resonated the most for me was the constant ambient joy Joanne has. I asked her about her thoughts on life and what she thought it was all about. Sitting across from me in the recliner, she sat with her hands across one another, resting on her lap, she simply replied, “Being in the moment. Just take each moment by moment.”
Born and raised in Indiana, she grew up during the depression with no running water, no phone, and no refrigerator.
“My parents did not have even an icebox but they had a cellar that had a trough, where cold water was in. If we'd get milk from my grandparents, they'd bring it home and put it down there to keep it cool. But my grandma had an icebox, and every so often the iceman would come by and put a block of ice in her icebox.”
Her father, a mechanic, tinkerer, as she would put it, and farmer; was the man to see in the community for tractor repair. Spending his lunch break at his mothers house, a woman known for her cooking and hospitality, the fellow farmers would bring their farming equipment to be fix by the hands of Joanne’s father’s skillful hands. Joanne spoke to me about her father’s forward thinking personality and the experiences he gave his family.
Joanne - Sept 2026 - Showing the article about her father and his tractors. - Photograph by Lorynn Hunt.
“We didn’t have a car for the longest of time, in fact we would barrow my grandparents car when we needed to go into town. When they bought their first car, Dad wanted to take us on a trip. For a the month of August we headed out west. We seen Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore, Grand Canyon; just all kinds of places. I don’t remember any of my friends traveling.” Joanne stated.
She added a special story to the end of my first interview, as I was packing up for the day, that I wanted to make sure we discussed during this recording. It was a memory of a special birthday gift given to her for her 16th birthday.
“Now you wont believe this.” She began with a sweet, knowing laugh, “A plane ride!”
Stunned, I replied, “Really?!”
“It was a Piper Cub plane. It was really exciting for me.” She states.
Her mother was a talented pianist whose music was her passion.
“She was perfectionist. She didn’t like to spend too much time away from her music. She could play anything. I never really got the hang of it but today we have a lot of our family that can play very well.”
One of her favorite stories she shared in both interviews was of her mother sewing herself a new outfit.
“My dad had this old, blue surge suite that had become really shiny, they didn’t have much, so my mom took it. She then ripped the seams, and flipped the material inside out so that the shinny side was on the inside. She pieced it together 14 time in so that she could make a skirt and jacket.” Joanne told.
Joanne is the oldest of two, and she told me about the time she found out her mother was pregnant.
“Women didn't tell their children that they were expecting another baby back then.” She started with, “Then one day I had come down with the mumps. I think I was 5, and my mom had not had the mumps before so she gave me an extra pair of underwear and sent me to walk down the road to my grandparents who lived about a fourth of a mile.” She once again laughed, “Well we didn’t have a phone to call and tell them that I was coming or why. So here I was just just walking down the road, by myself. When I got to the door all I could say was ‘I don’t feel good’.” She laughed once again. “Grandma soon figured it out and I stay with her. While I was there, my mother delivered my sister!” She added an interesting fact at the end, “It is was July 1936 with record breaking heat.”
What I loved most about our conversation is the sprinkling of stories and facts that seemed to brig an atmosphere around her life. These stories that she shares in this episodes are a perfect way to get to know this woman as a child. One story she told really showed her personality, and of course she laughed as she told it.
Joanne - Sept 2026 - Holding open just one of her scrap books to the page that features her singing on the radio. - Photograph by Lorynn Hunt.
“In 1937, my sister was a year old, and it was another very hot day. My mom was baking a cake in the wood stove. Then all the sudden there was a knock at the door.” Her hands moved from the lap to mid air, “Fire!” She said, “Two men walking by and saw that sparks had landed on our roof and started a fire. Well I grabbed my snow suit!” She laughed fully as she thought about it, “It was new! I knew I couldn’t go to school with out it so that was what I grabbed!”
She finished the story assuring that house was fine.
“One man was already on the roof, and the other was pumping water. Thankfully they were able to put it out. If they weren’t walking by I don’t know what would have happened.” She said.
We spoke about seasons of life and finding purpose in every season, though it is hard to always see, I believe there is always a purpose for us. At 95, Joanne put it simply throughout several conversations.
“Im unsure what it is right now for me but I want to be alert and be interested in people. I figure my riches are with my hope in God and with my family.” She tells me.
Becky and Joanne - Sept 2026 - Making each other laugh. - Photograph by Lorynn Hunt.
Joanne was for 71 years to her love, David, and had 6 kids. What a full life so far. She loves to have “cheap fun”, as she puts it, putting on skits and being silly. It all stems back to that joy.
Joanne and daughter Becky - Sept 2026 - Looking through scrap books. - Photograph by Lorynn Hunt.
If there anything I could say about these visits, it would be just how much I enjoyed myself. This episode is full of amazing stories that you will not want to miss. It is impossible to sum up someone’s life, but I can at least sum the experience of meeting them, welcomed. Joanne’s welcoming presence is something I will truly cherish. Thank you Joanne for letting me into your home and life.
Episode:
https://podcasts.apple.com/.../here-in-my.../id1858774701...
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2Pms5UXVpcAta8hsxK26Fx...
