When Joanne joined AAUW Morgan Hill 11 years ago, she said it was mainly for Evening Books. “It is an amazing book club with diverse reading, and it always has kept me with a great book on hand.  Of course, the holiday book exchange is wonderful!”

Shortly after she became a member, Joanne was quickly recruited to take over advertising, back when we still had a paper newsletter, and has been doing it ever since. It was about this time that she took up running and was excited to participate in the Wildflower Run. She has done eleven runs and says she loves the route.

Joanne taught in Morgan Hill for 32 years; most of the time in special education. Her last nine years were at Sobrato High School before she retired five years ago.

After she retired, she took over managing contracts for the Wildflower Run. This was oftentimes a challenging job, getting permits from the city and county, but it was a pleasure, she says, working with Mike, the porta-potty guy!

Joanne also started coordinating the AAUW CA Speech Trek competition for our branch when she retired. She knew very little about how to organize a speech contest, so she joined Toastmasters and still belongs today. “I love hearing people’s life stories!”

Joanne met her husband Kevin Rooney in 2013, and they married a year later. They are moving to Petaluma to be closer to her two daughters, son and two grandkids.

We will miss Joanne and thank her for all that she has done for our branch. We wish her well in her home.