JOAN M. BENNETT
04/18/34 - 12/30/97
Circumstances seperated Joan from the rest of her family on the East
Coast for over 30 years. Two days after listing myself with Switchboard I
received Email from my Nephew Ron whom I also had not seen for the same length
of time. My jaw dropped and my heart jumped to new heights when I saw this
in my inbox "Hello from your family in California". I had not been this "high"
in years with perhaps the only exception being the discovery of my many Brothers
from Vietnam who, like me, had been pretty much incognito for about the same
length of time. It didn't take many days of chatting on AOL for me to decide
to fly out to be with Joan and her family in Valley Village, Ca., a part
of North Hollywood which had just gotten it's own Zipcode. Even now all these
months later most telephone operators and post office employees are still
not aware of its existence. Fortunately, Valley Village is close to Los Angeles
and the airlines DID know where THAT was.
THIS IS HOW JOAN LOOKED AROUND THE TIME I WAS BORN IN 1943
AS SHE LET ON TO ME, SHE WASN'T EXACTLY FOND OF IT, BUT AS THE ONLY GIRL
IN THE FAMILY, SHE GOT THE JOB OF MINDING ME.
I, ON THE OTHER HAND, DIDN'T SEEM TO MIND AT ALL! :)
Upon arrival at LAX I was picked up by Bill Reed, a Vietnam Brother who
drove me to Joan's place in Valley Village
where HUG was
the word of the day. No tears, just hugs that wouldn't let go. There had
been some confusion as to who would be picking me up, Ron or Bill. The airline
had said we were going to be late but as it turned out that wasn't the case.
Anyway, as I said, Bill picked me up and off we went to Valley Village. Shortly
thereafter, a somewhat ragged Ron appeared at the apartment wondering just
what the heck had happened since he didn't find me at the airport. Oh, well
... Next home was Clarissa Jean ( Cris ) the niece I never knew I had before
finding Joan again. What a worthy addition to our family Cris is. Attractive,
intelligent, and an aspiring writer who's day job is on the staff of Men's
Fitness magazine, and who's nights are spent mostly at her PC, working on
one script or the other. Why, she has even submitted to Star Trek ! Obviously,
a person with CLASS! The rest of the evening was spent hugging, a mutually
favorite activity of Joan's and mine. Of course there were the usual 'catching
up on things' questions, but in reality, not much really needed SAYING, the
hugs said more than words ever could. So many years, and yet we had not lost
the connection. We could almost finish each other's thoughts and sentences.
Of course there were differences. Joan was something of a neat freak and
I am something of a slob. And she was concerned that I would not care for
her housekeeping !! But hey, at least I squeeze the toothpaste from the BOTTOM.
THIS WAS JOAN IN 1937
THIS WAS JOAN IN 1939 WITH OUR BROTHER GERALD, JR.
HERE ARE JOAN AND I IN 1944
My tribute to Joan
Written for her Memorial Service
Click For More Pictures
Joan listened to The Kingston Trio all her life. Me too.
Why don't you? They DEFINED a musical era in our history.
Listen to
Tom Dooley
Listen to MTA
By the way, they are still at it!
Visit with the TRIO
The Kingston Trio Place
