There have been many inquiries about our young poet friend Joyce Johnson, so I thought I'd bring you up to date (at least 'til July of this year -- keep writing and you'll never be truly gone.
MOUNT VERNON, Wash. — Surrounded by friends and family in her comfortable Skagit Valley home, Joyce Johnson reads one of her favorite humorous poems, “The Blackberry and the Rose.”
“I took a hoe and hit him hard with all the strength I had,” Johnson reads, “How could my hybrid beauty be seduced by such a cad?”
It happens to come from a book that she authored.
“She was about 80 when she started writing,” said her niece, Delpha Johnson.
Joyce Johnson has lived a life as colorful as the tulips that surround her on this July 7, her 105th birthday.
“Goodness sakes,” Johnson said as a cake bearing the number 105 is set down in front of her.
“She's got the kindest heart of anybody I ever met,” Delpha said, “You're gonna make me cry. I just love her so much.”
When Johnson’s first husband passed away unexpectedly at just 42 years old, she went to work as an office manager at the local radio station, KBRC-AM.
As one of Mount Vernon's most popular residents, she's developed a taste for the limelight.
“Oh, I like being on television,” Johnson said.
She also has an appetite for a certain snack food.
“Oh, I do, I do!” Johnson exclaimed as a birthday bag of Crunchy Cheetos arrived, “So much,” she said playfully, cradling the bag close.
The crunchy snack is just one of her dietary suggestions for a long, healthy life. The others include never trimming the fat off of a juicy steak, and enjoying a big bag of candy once in a while.
This mother of three now has eight great-great-grandchildren.
“My long and happy life is (because of) my children,” Johnson said, “I have a lot of family.”
About the Author
I have lived a long life, having been born in North Dakota in 1918. I have survived two World Wars and the big Depression as well as minor wars and recessions. I was the first daughter of my parents after four husky sons. I was very welcomed by the whole family. My brothers dearly loved having a baby sister. Three years later my sister was born and in 1927 my beloved baby brother came. My folks raised seven healthy and happy children. I left North Dakota in July of 1941 and went to Detroit, Michigan where my betrothed had gone to find work. We left there in February of 1943 in order to be near my family which had moved to Washington State. My son was born two weeks after we got here. I have lived in the beautiful Skagit Valley in Washington ever since to eventually raise my family, my son and two daughters. I had never had a job of my own until my children were in school. I applied for a job as traffic manager and bookkeeper at my local radio station. I stayed there until I retired at 65 years of age in 1983. Meanwhile, in 1962 after 21 year of marriage my husband had died suddenly and I had been left to fend for myself and children. In 1966 I married a local farmer and we happily built a home on the farm and I have lived here ever since. After losing him, in 1995, I rent my land out to a bulb grower and am surrounded by beauty in the spring. My son died in 1999 and to console my self, I started writing poetry. I have written many, many, poems since, successfully publishing some of them.