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In Memory of Dr. Joan Iversen

~ Honoring Her Legacy Through Building A Scholarship and Sharing Our History

In Memory of Dr. Joan Iversen

Tag Archives: Colleague

Lesley Diehl Remembers Joan

13 Friday Jun 2014

Posted by Nancy J. Smyth in Reflections

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Colleague, Friend

Women holding NOW banner

Oneonta NOW Chapter’s Women in the 1975 Memorial Day Parade
Left to right, Unknown, Laurie Zimniewiecz, Joan Iversen, Lesley Diehl, Unknown, Marilyn Buehl Helterline, Unknown

How I Remember Joan

That pink fuchsia and lime green 70’s sheath, four alternating blocks of color paired with matching brilliant pink stockings. I don’t know where that dress is now, but I hope it went to a vintage clothing shop so that someone else is enjoying it as much as we all did.

Joan loved decorating. She was good at it, flamboyant in her execution. She was as fond of bright colors in her decorating as she was in her clothes. She painted the picnic table used for dining in the kitchen at the lake house sunshine yellow. It was the perfect color for the room, but she got as much paint on her rear as she did on the table. I think she sat on the paint can lid.

Joan was the kind of intellectual I most admire, pairing intelligence with passion. When I came over to the house on Elm Street I could hear Joan in the office off the family room typing her dissertation. Tap, tap, tap. Damn! Tap, tap. Shit! Tappity tap, tappity tap. Oh hell!

Before there was match.com, there was Joan. She didn’t bother to match you on twenty-seven compatible characteristics. If you were single, that was fixable.

Joan was direct. She cut through all the BS. She and I were doing a women’s program on campus, probably for a Women’s Week ,and I was trying to answer a question from our audience. I was calm and reasonable in my answer, but Joan wasn’t having any of it. She pushed me to one side when the questioner insisted, “I don’t understand why that’s the case.” And she answered, “Because the f——g research says it is, that’s why!”

That was living life, her special way, Joan style.

I remember her with love. And smiles. And now I have no one to tell me what stories are worth reading in the New York Times.

~ Lesley A. Diehl (http://lesleyadiehl.com/)

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“Joan Uncommon” : King Tut’s Mistress Discovered

27 Thursday Feb 2014

Tags

Colleague, Friend

Joan Uncommon

I thought people might get a kick out of this joke gift that Mary Lou Ryan, a close friend and colleague of my mom’s, created and gave to her many years ago. It’s very yellowed status attests to its age–it was framed and hung on the wall in our kitchen for more years than I can remember. Reading it over always makes me truly laugh out loud, because it captures my mom perfectly!

~ Nancy Smyth, Joan’s daughter, sharing Mary Lou Ryan’s joke portrayal of Joan Iversen.

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Posted by Nancy J. Smyth | Filed under Reflections

≈ 1 Comment

My Memories of the Women’s Movement

28 Saturday Dec 2013

Posted by Nancy J. Smyth in Reflections

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Tags

Colleague, Friend, Women's Studies

Screen Shot 2013-12-28 at 10.05.30 PM

Note: Dr. Davidson, a colleague and friend of Dr. Iversen, shares her reflections on the Women’s Movement, especially at the State University of New York at Oneonta.

MY MEMORIES OF THE WOMEN’S MOVEMENT

E. T. A. Davidson (2000)

1. Prelude

I want to say something about who I am, as I think that in a history of feminism, we have to try to understand how and why some women become feminists, while others do not.

In a way, I have always been a feminist, though I did not know this for a long time. I came from a loving family. My mother was a happy homemaker. At the same time, my father was proud of her when she did something unusual, earned money, stood on her own two feet. My father respected and loved his children. Dostoevsky says that the best gift a child can have is a happy childhood. I agree. I was brought up to use my intelligence and to be independent.  Continue reading →

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Photo Gallery

Joan Smyth around 1967
Joan Smyth around 1967
Jack and Joan Iversen - Her 70th birthday party
Jack and Joan Iversen – Her 70th birthday party
Jack & Joan Iversen - Making Her Point at Her 70th birthday party
Jack & Joan Iversen – Making Her Point at Her 70th birthday party
Joan Iversen at her 70th birthday party, protesting having her photo taken.
Joan Iversen at her 70th birthday party, protesting having her photo taken.
Dr. Iversen & two student at the DC Rally
Pro-Choice Rally, DC, circa 1985 w/SUCO Women’s Alliance members Stevi Calandra & Robin Frankel
Dr. Iversen with trees in background.
Joan Iversen sponsoring a BBQ for the SUCO Women’s Alliance at her home on Goodyear Lake
Joan Iversen at podium, Mark Delligatti to the right
Joan Iversen Receiving Alumni Award, with Mark Delligatti, her nominator. Photo courtesy of Mark Delligatti.
The Iversen-Smyth Family, in 1976 Top left to right: Terry Smyth, Jack Iversen, Joan Smyth Iversen Bottom left to right: Tod Iversen, Kristen Iversen, Nancy Smyth, Jill Iversen
The Iversen-Smyth Family, in 1976 Top left to right: Terry Smyth, Jack Iversen, Joan Smyth Iversen Bottom left to right: Tod Iversen, Kristen Iversen, Nancy Smyth, Jill Iversen

Recent Posts

  • “Your Mother Changed My Life”
  • Happy Valentine’s Day from Joan Iversen’s Suffragettes
  • Photo Moment Memory: Joan Iversen & Mark Delligatti
  • Joan Iversen “was in every other sense my real mother”
  • Happy Anniversary to Joan and Jack Iversen

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