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JoAnn
Denniston |
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Born: 1947, Detroit, Michigan Died:
Still Living |
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JoAnn Denniston (no middle name) was the second child born to Reese
Mathew Denniston (1918 - 1989) and Winifred "Wini" Irene Gardner
(1919 - 1999). JoAnn was born in 1947 in Detroit, Michigan,
but the family lived in Berkley, Michigan (a suburb of Detroit).
JoAnn often went by the nickname "Jo". |
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JoAnn and her older sister Linda in 1947 |
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JoAnn and Linda with Elaine Gardner at
Christmas 1947 |
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Linda and JoAnn at the Berkley, Michigan
house |
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The family moved from Berkley, Michigan to Chicago to live in
married student dorms after Reese decided to become a
chiropractor. Wini and Reese did research on where they wanted to
settle. They narrowed it down to South Florida or Bowling Green
Kentucky. |
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School photos of JoAnn in the 1950s |
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The Denniston family finally settled in Plantation, Florida,
around 1954. In Florida the family was active in the Plantation Community
Church, never missing a Sunday. |
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To learn more about Plantation,
CLICK HERE |
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Wini with Linda and JoAnn at their home in
Plantation, Florida |
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JoAnn was in Brownies, 4-H and Girl Scouts. She took
horseback riding but she says she was not athletic. Hobbies included
sewing, knitting and reading. She was a member of the Jr. Choir at
the church from age 6. |
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JoAnn starting at age 10, sewing was more than a hobby for JoAnn. Wini took
the girls to fashion shows with a notebook where she noted
fashion, colors and styles. The girls next found patterns and
fabric and created homemade versions of what they had seen. Even
hats were produced and shoes covered in matching fabric.
Babysitting every weekend provided funds for underwear and
shoes. |
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JoAnn and Linda don clown costumes for
Halloween |
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At Parkway Jr. High School JoAnn was chosen as student director
of the Chorus and formed an afterschool Chorus. In order to
attend after school, she had to walk home. |
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JoAnn and Linda |
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In high school JoAnn was shy but had a circle of close friends,
mostly from the church youth group. She joined several interest
clubs including two different choruses and Future Homemakers. She was
honored to be inducted into Usherettes - which was a service club.
Usherettes wore uniforms and ushered at assemblies. They also
sold tickets at the sporting events and ran the cash registers
in the school cafeteria. |
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JoAnn attended Stranahan High School in Fort Lauderdale,
Florida. The following photos are from the 1965 yearbook. |
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Stranahan High School, Fort Lauderdale, Florida |
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CHORUS
2nd Row From Bottom, 2nd Girl
From Right - JoAnn Denniston |
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Future Homemakers of America |
2nd Row From Bottom, 5th Girl
From Right - JoAnn Denniston |
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Usherettes (Service Club - Ushers at all events)
Middle Row, Middle Girl -
JoAnn Denniston |
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After high school JoAnn chose to go to the new junior college
in Davie Florida. This was the first year for the institution.
The new buildings were placed on the land of the former
airfield. |
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It was not JoAnn's desire to be a teacher even though her mother, sister
and grandfather had all been teachers. When JoAnn pushed to choose
a career track, she felt it would be a general course of study
and she could change later. |
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December 11, 1965, while at BJC she met Worthington Frederick
Seese, Jr. (or "Guy" as she called him) who was a friend of her
high school friend Margret Potter. Since she had just completed
exams, Jo went to the student hall to get change from a change
machine to call home. Guy offered to drive her home and they
became involved in a long conversation and talked all afternoon.
This led to dates and by Christmas he took her home to meet the
Seese family. That night at a formal dinner, she met Worthington
Sr., his wife Myrtle, Uncle Edward Seese and their mother Ottliy M. Seese. It
was a formal dinner and when asked if she preferred oyster
dressing or chestnut dressing she was puzzled never having has
either. She would have preferred Michigan dressing (or stuffing),
which
was a bread dressing with sausage and onions in it. After
dinner, the couple
went to see the movie "The Sound of Music", whiche had just opened. |
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Jo and Guy got engaged on her birthday in June of 1966. They
made no immediate plans for a wedding since she wanted to finish
junior college first. |
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Jo and Guy were married on 05 May 1967 in Broward, Florida, on a weekend
between college trimesters. JoAnn graduated soon after
that. They
planned a honeymoon in the Bahamas but Guy was notified that he
could not leave the country yet since he had been involved in
security work while in the Air force. |
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Marriage Index for JoAnn Denniston and Worthington F. Seese,
Jr. |
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Worthington Frederick Seese, Jr. and Joann Denniston Seese |
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Worthington was put up for adoption
shortly after his birth and was never able to find out any
information about his biological parents. He was adopted
first by William Evert
Morrison and his wife Mary Gray "Grayce" UNKNOWN before 1945
and was named Guy Clark Morrison. Whatever the reason, William Evert
Morrison and his wife Grayce divorced in 1951 in St. Johns
County, Florida, and Guy Clark Morrison (age 9) went to live
with the Morrison grandparents in North Central Florida.
Later he was sent to to live at the Miami Military Academy (age
10).
Guy Clark Morrison was adopted for a second time by
Worthington Frederick Seese and Myrtle May Davis Seese. Guy was 11, almost 12, before the
actual adoption. During the second adoption, Guy told the
judge that he wanted his adopted daddy's name, so it legally
became Worthington Frederick Seese, Jr. Worthington
was born 27 Jul 1942, Syracuse, Onondaga, New York. |
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Worthington and JoAnn's marriage produced two children. |
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Both Jo and Guy worked full time jobs while attending school. He
worked at 7-11 mini-market while in school and Jo worked at
Florida Radio Phone as a radio dispatcher. |
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Guy was trained as
a computer programmer but computers had not moved into businesses
in Florida on a wide scale yet so work was difficult to
find. |
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The couple had a one bedroom apartment near Sears Town in
Ft. Lauderdale. It was a furnished apartment and cost $70 a
month. The couple was robbed during their sleep while living
there They lost cash and some wedding presents. |
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It was decided in the fall that they would pack up and go up the
east coast where Guy would interview. He interviewed in Atlanta
for a few days and then they went to Baltimore where Jo's sister
Linda and her husband Bon were teaching. Within a few days after
their arrival, Guy was offered a job at a company so the couple
settled there where they both worked. JoAnn was a key punch
operator for the Baltimore -Annapolis Railroad. |
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The next year Jo Ann returned to college at Towson State
College. By this time JoAnn had done some substitute teaching so
she decided teaching would be a good career choice for her. |
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Teaching School - First Day of School 2007 |
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JoAnn with her sons Gardner (left) and Brad
(right)
and Brad's daughters Alexandria Alecia and Savanna Lexxi |
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Kristen & Gardner with Beth & Brad and
Alexandria & Savanna |
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THOUGHTS |
Date |
Comments |
2017 Feb 23 |
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SOURCES |
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Thanks to JoAnn Denniston
Seese for her help with the various branches of her family |
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