Saturday, April 12, 2014

#9/10 Favorite Female Relative

Hmmm.   That is a tough decision but I guess I will have to say my mother.  

Joycelyn Bea Keesee was born 22 Aug 1938 at home in the community of Glenoma, Lewis County, Washington.  Her parents are E B Keesee and Fern Reynoldson.  Joyce was their 4thchild out of 9.  When she was 2, the family had moved to Randle (just down the highway from Glenoma).  She attended some schools in Centralia, Washington when the family lived in Salzer Valley just outside of  Centralia.  She graduated from Rochester High School in 1956.



She met William Edward Kludt on a blind date that was set up by their friends.  Joyce & Bill were married 30thof Aug 1957 in Rochester.  Shortly after their marriage, they lived in Seattle, Washington.  Then they moved back to the Kludt family farm outside of Centralia in Zenkner Valley.  They lived there until 1961 when they bought their own dairy farm in Grand Mound, Washington.  In 1967, they moved back to the family farm.  They still live in the valley but not in the original home.

Joyce worked as a dental hygienist before her marriage.  Afterwards, she was a stay-at-home mom that helped run the dairy farm and the beef farm.   After my brother & I were in school, she went to work for a friend as a meat wrapper.  After the business was sold, she went to work for the Chehalis School District as a bus monitor for the special needs.

Joyce did a lot of canning and freezing produce from our vegetable garden.  She also sewed a lot of my clothes.  She currently does a lot of quilting and is currently the Superintendent of the Living Arts Department at the Southwest Washington Fair.  She is also the Family Living Director of her local subordinate Grange, Oakview #311.


Mom was my Girl Scout leader and 4-H leader.  She also helped us out as an honorary female leader when I was in Explorer Scouts Search & Rescue Post.  I learned a lot on cooking, sewing, knitting, crocheting, embroidery and managing finances from my mom.





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