Joyce 

Joyce was born in Long Beach Aug 1943 and according to her mom, she lived 2 blocks from the beach with her sister Zoe who was born in March 1942. ( Address: 505 Obispo., Long Beach)

Her brother Jim was born Nov 1944 and the family moved to  a new home in Bellflower.  (5949 Whitewood Drive - now part of the city of Lakewood).   

Our Parish was St. Bernard's Church 9647 East Beach St, Bellflower.  Joyce & Zoe attended school there and remember being Flower Girls at the Annual May Processions.  We moved from Bellflower when Joyce was in the 3rd grade. (1951) Joyce's dad was transferred to Fresno and worked for North American Aviation.  The move was to provide Joyce with a better health situation.  The smog in Los Angeles was harmful to Joyce and the fresh air in Fresno gave her the chance to run and play outside like the other kids.  

For pictures and more info, go to  Jim's website: http://www.semperaltius.com/bellflower.htm

Our Parish Church in Fresno was Our Lady of Victory.   I think the church and parish hall were made from Army Barracks.  I'm sure the Parish Hall was an old Army Barrack and it was divided into "2" Classrooms with a big door dividing it into 2 rooms.  One side was 1st grade and the other side was 2nd & 3rd grade - the class that both Jim & Joyce studied in.  Since there was no 4th grade, Zoe had to attend St. Agnes School.  Our dad and other men from the parish helped to build a new school a couple of blocks away from the the Church building.  Zoe was able to join us back at the school probably in 6th grade??  Her grade was always the oldest grade in the school.  I think she had 6 students in her grade and I think Joyce had 12 students in her grade.  I think Joyce & Jim shared the same teacher in 4th & 5th grade - Mrs. Thompson or Miss Rodrigues.  The school was run by the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Carondelet.  Joyce like to work at the convent and in the mornings when Joyce was in  8th grade, she escaped from Religion class and helped clean up after the morning mass at the convent.

Joyce went to San Joaquin Memorial High School on Blackstone Ave in Fresno.  Zoe & Joyce would ride the city bus to downtown Fresno and then transfer out to the High School. We moved to Santa Clara in 1958 when Joyce was still a Freshman.  A very difficult time for her because of studies.  Algebra and Latin were impossible to absorb because of the change in teachers etc.  Santa Clara High was a wonderful school.  The first difference was there were "boys".  At San Joaquin Memorial the boys part of the school was on one side of the property and the girls school was on the other side of the pool and gym if I remember correctly.  At Santa Clara High were had classes with the boys and also the old brick high school had "ramps" to be able to get to the 2nd floor  classes quickly.    Joyce & Zoe joined lots of clubs.  One of the favorites was Rally Club - we made large banners for the home football games and held them up in the end zone for the players to run through.  After the football games (at Townsend Field) we would walk through the open fields to what we called  "The Whatzit Club" - a Youth Village run by Fr. Schmidt a Jesuit from the University of Santa Clara.  At the Whatzit, you could dance - Fridays we had a DJ and on Saturdays we had a live band.  Zoe & Joyce went almost every Friday and many Saturdays.  Joyce's future husband "Mike" was also there, but they never met at the Whatzit.  Mike attended San Jose High - Joyce's teases him that it was "on the other side of the tracks".   Joyce graduated in 1961 and intended on working as a secretary -- she worked at Bay Area Credit Service.  However, when August came around she was sad at not being with friends at school, so she enrolled at San Jose City College where she would meet Mike.