Joanne Sheehan: My husband Dan, Dancing lessons, SPARS & Stationed in Florida,

I was born in Decator, Illinois.
My father died when I was only five years old.
TB was rampant in those days.
I had two sisters who had the responsibility of me
while my mother held down two jobs
one at a garment factory
and she cleaned the third floor
of an office building at night.

In the 1930s I worked for the government
buying up people’s gardens—price control
During WWII, I was a Coast Guard SPAR in Florida
“Semper Paratus”, “always ready.”
That’s what they called women in the service
They had us marching across the field in uniform
They marched us up & down stairs 5 times a day
I was real patriotic, it was winter in Illinois
and I wanted to go to Florida where it was warm...

I did office work. He came in from sea duty
plunked some papers down and said
he wanted to get paid today.
And I said, “no you won’t!” I called him a lurker.
Whenever I’d look up and there he’d be
So I asked him if he wanted to go to the movies
We girls lived in separate barracks
and when I came in from our date
I said he was a complete dud,
he didn’t even try to kiss me

There was a swimming pool
and that’s where we’d mix with the fellows
I ended up marrying him—for 60 years
but I lost him last year, my husband Dan.

—Joanne Sheehan



I always wanted dancing lessons
when I was a kid
I always wanted to travel,
to come to California for one thing:
I had a sister here.
My husband quit his job in Oklahoma
so we could come here.
I always wanted dancing lessons
that I didn’t get
I just wanted to be up there
with the other girls, dancing.

—Joanne Sheehan



During WWII, I joined the Coast Guard SPARS
& this big fella came in w/ a stack of paper
& he said, “I wanna be paid today.”
I worked in the office doing payroll
& I said you’re not gonna, I married him
I guess he got paid

—Joanne Sheehan



We were called SPARS. I was stationed in Florida. I wanted to get away from home and see the world. Well, I saw all of Florida—that’s where I met my husband. To a kid born & raised in the midwest, Florida was a treat. I was being patriotic, I was also being selfish, I wanted to get away and see something besides the midwest. I was so glad to see something beside the midwest and the snow.

—Joanne Sheehan