Joanne Dever:
CLASS OF 1989
Copperas Cove High SchoolClass of 1989
Copperas cove, TX
University of TexasClass of 2010
San antonio, TX
Southwest Texas State University - ScienceClass of 2001
San marcos, TX
Joanne's Story
Life
Two days after I graduated from Cove High in June 1989, I left for Basic Training for the U.S. Army National Guard. I enjoyed the challenges of basic training at Fort Dix, New Jersey (who knew it could get as hot as Texas in the summer?) and then came back to Texas for AIT at Fort Sam. Since it was not active duty, afterward I went back to Cove and started working. After a few years, I went back to college and graduated from Southwest Texas State University (I will NOT call it Texas State University!) in 2001, summa cum laude in Mathematics, 4th in my class. In 2007, after 5 years teaching science, I returned to school at UTSA to complete a MS in Biology, including 3 years of study in a lab working with anthrax. I love research. The plan was to go on for my PhD, but family illness and then the birth of my adopted son have put those plans on hold, for now. I am teaching again, at SC Lee Junior High School in Copperas Cove. I miss research (SO much!), but for now I have other priorities.
Over the years between high school and now, I have been a fast-food worker, a sales rep, a kidney dialysis technician, a nurses' aid, a tutor, a substitute teacher, worked and traveled with a carnival for a year, an office manager, a student, and a science teacher.
I won't even go over the mess my love life turned into; let me just say that after the eventual break-up of a marriage that lasted 9 years (from meeting to divorcing) and some other relationships since then, I am happy with my life.
I spend most of my "spare" time with my family and feel strongly that family is one of the most important bonds we have in life, and it needs to be nurtured and celebrated as often as pos...Expand for more
sible. I am still never far away from a book. I like to travel when I get the chance, and I love spending time in natural settings, especially with animals. My most peaceful moments are when I'm standing on the dock or the beach, watching the sun or the moon reflecting across the waves and listening to the cry of the seabirds in the breeze and the rush and lap of waves.
School
My favorite memories from high school are those times I shared with my best friend, July, and other dear friends like Charlie, Charles, David, and Scott. Like when we were all studying for finals during our senior year and we took a break to go drive around and round up our friends, then went to play at a playground in the middle of the night for an hour or so like little kids. It was that night that it finally hit home for me that we were moving from the world of children to the lives we would lead as adults. And it was one of the few moments that I really wished that it wasn't happening - that we could just hit pause and play a little longer and be happy just to be with good friends. I remember the beach balls and the silly string at graduation; I remember spending days and days camped out at Lake Belton during the summer between my junior and senior year. I remember Colonel Moltz and Sergeant Major Minton, and Mrs. Stalder and Mr. Box and Mrs. Insogna. I remember Troy's death that horrible night of the dessert theater when he was in a car accident, and seeing him buried while the entire debate/public speaking team laid their sweaters on top of his casket. I don't remember everything, but some things I won't ever forget, and they all went into making me who I am. I wouldn't change a moment...
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