October 22, 2021 People/Dining/Shopping/Events/Culture All defining Livonia
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Art Cole, President,
Livonia Rotary Noon Club
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The buffet line just kept
moving with great food
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Mike Ladwig, President,
Livonia Rotary AM Club
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Never complaining, never looking back, always looking forward. The life of a polio survivor. Geraldine Joyner. |
The late Fernon Feenstra, the former City Councilman, called the typewriter shortly after mom passed away. He was just checking in to offer condolences about mom. Halfway through the conversation, he offered a bit of advice. "Every day you are going to reach for the phone to call her, at about the same time you called her every day. It will be your way to connect even though you get halfway through dialing and realize she is not going to answer. But just the gesture on your part to call makes a connection."
Years later he is still right. I find myself at 5:00 reaching for the phone to see what she and dad are having for dinner, if they want me to bring something, or for me to come over and help cook. 10 years.
Not a week goes by when someone, less frequently last year with the stay-at-home policy, says how much they miss "Geraldine." Funny that most call her Geraldine. Mom spelled it Jerrie and her mother called her Jerry. It was just a part of the enigma that she was. She rarely talked about the leg brace she wore or the struggles she went through from the age of 16 months through high school, in and out of the hospital to lengthen her leg, the result of polio and Infantile Paralysis.
Mom loved children. Halloween when Lindsay Spence brought her two daughters over made her especially happy. She always would give me an update on former school board member Mark Scarr's special needs daughter.
As a School Board member, she made it a point to visit every school once a year. One day she visited my school but didn't tell me. My teachers came up to her and asked, "Is Bill okay? He's not in class." When I came home, with a tan from sitting out at Kensington Lake, the first thing she said to me was "How was school today?" Boy was I in trouble! The only day I ever skipped school!
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Mom was born on May 20, 1920, a Thursday morning at 6:00, weighing 7.5 pounds at 18 inches long. Her parents, William H. Wood Jr. and Hilda Wood welcomed their first of three children, Geraldine, Glenn, and Beverly. She was born in Stockton California and was raised in Patterson.
At the age of one, she stood by herself and enjoyed spending most of her time in the kitchen playing with the gas knobs on the stove. Made her first step on May 28, 1921, the day of her mother's birthday. At 14 months she started to walk, falling against a chair cutting her lower lip requiring one stitch.
Her mother wrote in her baby book that "she was very sick with Infantile Paralysis starting at about 16 months. Her right leg was paralyzed. I took her to the Doctor for treatment three times a week for several months."
At thirteen months she said her first sentence and at 17 months she started to put sentences together. That was also the month that her dad had scarlet fever. "Jerry got on her little knees and said a prayer for Daddy to get well putting her fingers together and said "God Bless Daddy."
Shriner's Hospital
She spent an inordinate amount of time in the Shriners Hospital in San Francisco. When she graduated from 8th grade her memory book was signed by Dr's, nurses, and other children attending school at the Hospital. She wrote that her school yell was "One, Two, Three, Four, Who are we for? Shriners, Shriners, Hurrah.
One student, Selma Wold, out of dozens of patients, doctor's and nurses wrote "I wish you good luck to your bone-lengthening." That was why she was in the Shriners Hospital, to have a bone from her hip removed and put in the short right leg in hope that by doing that she would be able to walk easier. The brace she wore was never far from her and was the first thing she did every morning. Reach for the brace.
The 1921 polio epidemic did change her life.
The San Francisco Shriner's Hospital accepted her as a patient when she was 4 years old. Through the 8th grade, she was home and hospital schooled. By high school, she was healthy and happy graduating in 1937.
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World War II
During World War II she met Richard "Dick" Joyner and when the war ended married Richard Joyner of Farmville North Carolina, who would go on to have a career with Burroughs, moving to Livonia in 1959.
Decatur Georgia
Her appreciation for children had an outlet when she and dad moved to Decatur Georgia and she became an officer of the PTA. We weren't there long as dad was moved on to Burroughs corporate office. The PTA did not mince any words in this letter they wrote wishing her well:
"The PTA at Clairmont School wants you to know how sincerely we appreciate all that you did. . .it is rare to find a person so devoted and interested as you were to your job. All of us at Clairmont miss you and your nice family so very much, but know that with your attributes, it will be no problem to fit in beautifully in any community."
Grant School PTA
Having moved to Livonia in December 1959 it did not take long for the comments from the Clairmont PTA to come true. Jerrie served as President of the Grant School PTA in the 1961-62 school year and 1962-63 school year. She moved on to become President of the Livonia PTA Council.
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A community coming together to eradicate polio |
Settling into a better normal was on display this week starting with the return to the Livonia Mayoral Ball, moving on to the Livonia Volunteer Breakfast, and culminating Thursday evening when two service clubs joined together to host a spaghetti dinner.
A spaghetti dinner for the entire community.
A spaghetti dinner to help eradicate polio.
A spaghetti dinner that provided an opportunity for friends, new and old, to come together in fellowship for a common cause.
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Art Cole, President of the Noon Rotary Club, and Mike Ladwig, President of the AM Rotary Club exercised leadership along with members of their two clubs in showcasing how two service clubs could come together for the benefit of our hometown and hometowns around the globe, knowing that for every one dollar raised in Livonia two dollars would be donated by the Gates Foundation. |
Rotary Interact members greeted us as we arrived and were there to thank us for coming as we left.
Jonathon Wennstrom guided us through the welcome line where Bill Fiske and Laurie Pohutsky sold tickets to those without.
And what a crowd, including Mayor Maureen Brosnan, Clerk Susan Nash, Treasurer Lynda Scheel, Council folks Rob Donovic, Kathleen McIntyre and Laura Toy.
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The Community Chorus was well represented with Past and Current President's Peggy Gaskill and Kathleen Chichester. Former Schoolcraft College President Dick McDowell hosted a table of his friends. |
Steve King was in the house as was Schoolcraft Trustee Dillon Breen. Eric Ladwig was pitching in where ever he was needed. Judge Sean Kavanaugh enjoyed his meal.
Tammy Bonifield, Nancy Darga, Bill Fried, Dave Cash, Barb Lewis, Greg Greene, Pat Zucal, Bob Carris, David Stechholz. The list goes on and on and if I keep going I will leave half off.
So well organized. So many smiles. Handshakes all around. The community was a winner as we continue to come out of the pandemic with a better normal.
Thank you Rotary.
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Family
Two sons carry on the legacy of the Joyner family. Bob, a Doctor, and lawyer in San Antonio, served in the United States Air Force. He has two sons, Jonathan and Jason, both San Antonio attorney's and one daughter Kimberly also of San Antonio, an associate business planner. Bill has one son, Paul, living in Aurora, Colorado with his wife Raquel and two children, Leonardo and Maya.
Mom was a smart, engaging woman who knew how to bring family and community together. Rarely if ever talked about the struggles of polio, refused to complain and would not get a handicapped sticker until late in her life. She, in all likelihood, did not think of herself as handicapped, cooking two meals a day right up to her passing for dad, sitting in her wheelchair determined to live life as fully as possible.
She loved to share stories with close friends Jack and Senie Engebretson, Connie and Sue Gniewek, Bob and Janet Bennett. And the list could go on and on as she did indeed count so many as her friends. But none made her smile more than when Bob and the grandchildren, Paul, Kimberly, Jonathan, and Jason were all over for a visit. She would sit on the front porch and the minute she saw the car turn the corner she took on another personality, focusing on her family, asking questions, making sure they had enough to eat. It is as if all she wanted in life, from a childhood spending hours and days in a hospital to an adult giving back to children, putting smiles on their faces.
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Two weeks. Musings continues to share thoughts on the City Council Election.
Four candidates endorsed by FridayMusings are the future for Livonia. They have proposed big ideas, new policies, each understanding that by engaging citizens Livonia will have a network willing to work on solving issues, pursuing new programs and being committed to improving life for all residents of Livonia.
Jim Jolly has already shown that he understands how government works and change is implemented. We can see this with his neighborhood grant program that takes quality of life into individual neighborhoods.
He has made Greenmead a focus of his attention that will see this Livonia gem live up to its potential.
Add to his leadership the big picture candidates of Dan Centers, Carrie Budzinski and Ken Overwater. Each of whom brings new skillsets, interpersonal skills and ideas that can and will benefit Livonia.
It is important that they are willing to work with the Mayor in making sure that the Livonia Vision 21 plan has quality input, strong support and assurances that Livonia will continue to come out of the status quo era underscored by the pandemic with the definition of coming back better than when we went into the pandemic.
There can also be no doubt that the understanding of Livonia history and traditions is needed on the City Council. No candidate has this skillset like that of Laura Toy. Should she receive one of your four votes and win re-election Livonia be able to use her institutional knowledge for our benefit.
Musings has no interest in reporting the negative attacks on any of the candidates. However, some of the criticisms out there in the social media world have validity and are based on fact.
Those criticisms have been taken into consideration in making endorsements. But only those based on fact and which can be substantiated.
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Livonia Library excels in so many ways |
SAVE THE DATE! Join in on Saturday, Oct. 30 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for a family-friendly spooktacular outdoor trick-or-treat event! Visit the StoryWalk® behind the Bennett Civic Center Library, read the story, and pick up a few (non-candy) treats along the way.
This is a drop-in event; families may visit any time between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Kids are encouraged to attend in costume and bring a treat bag.
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Mark your calendar for these Library Fun Activities
Join us for trick or treat stations, giveaways, and an appearance by the Detroit Ghostbusters for photos and meet-and-greet!
Date: Tuesday, October 26, 2021
Time: 6:00pm - 7:30pm
Location: Carl Sandburg Library
The Gang began as a group of Jewish boys who grew up getting into trouble on Hastings (currently I-75 south of the Edsel Ford Freeway) in Detroit in the 1910s.
Date: Tuesday, October 26, 2021
Time: 6:30pm - 7:30pm
Location: Auditorium, Civic Center Library
Toni Collette stars as Jan Vokes, a small-town Welsh bartender who dreams of breeding a racehorse. She convinces her neighbors to pitch in their meager earnings to finance the horse.
Date: Wednesday, October 27, 2021
Time: 2:00pm - 4:00pm
Location: Auditorium, Civic Center Library
Dim the lights and let’s talk about ghosts. But what are ghosts and why do they haunt? Author and Psychic Medium, Kristy Robinett, discusses the history of ghost stories and will share some of them.
Date: Wednesday, October 27, 2021
Time: 6:00pm - 7:00pm
Location: Auditorium, Civic Center Library
Tired of bad news, negativity, and angst? Join us for Positive Pages Book Group, featuring gentler reads. No matter what challenges, choices, or changes the characters in each novel or biography face.
Date: Tuesday, November 2, 2021
Time: 10:00am - 12:00pm
Location: Meeting Room A, Civic Center Library
Events that ask for registration should click on the calendar here and then follow the event date by clicking on the event and it will take you to a registration page. Got it?
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