Joanne Swendsen Trimble
1939 - 2013
Joanne Swendsen
Trimble, a 22-year resident of Austin died on June 30th at
the age of 74 from pancreatic cancer at Christopher House
of Hospice Austin. Born Joanne Ruth Swendsen on March 12,
1939 in Fond du Lac,Wisconsin to Robert Swendsen and Erna
Hintz Swendsen, she graduated in 1961 from Valparaiso
University with a major in mathematics, followed by a
Masters in 1963 at Purdue University and a PhD in 1973 at
the University of Pennsylvania. Earlier she attended Pekin
Community High School in Illinois, graduating in 1961.
In 1965 the Trimbles moved to New York City and from 1965 to 66, Joanne taught at Hunter College, followed by Upsala College from 1965-67. At this time the Trimbles participated in The Linnaean Society of New York, during what surely was its heyday. Christmas Bird Counts were pursued with gusto, including the respected Montauk Christmas Count. It was on this count that both Trimbles stayed in the Manor House on Gardiner's Island, and experienced the hospitality of Robert David Lion Gardiner and the exciting count guest Roger Peterson (a bird guide autograph bears the date of December 16, 1978). After the University of Pennsylvania, Joanne taught at Glassboro State College (now Rowan University) from 1972 to 1984. It was during this time that she participated along with her husband in the establishment of a new Computer Science major.
In 1984, the Trimbles moved to Rhinebeck, New York where Joanne joined the Math Department at Marist College in Poughkeepsie. In 1992, she joined her husband in Austin, Texas, where she accepted the pleasures of retirement. Joanne delighted in each of two mini dachshunds -- Hilbert, a red dapple, and Lindbergh, a black-and tan retired champion.
She and her husband traveled widely, including many trips in their Mooney Executive 21 aircraft, one of which led them on an extended trip to Alaska (see web site below). Other excursions included two trips to Belize, six to the Bahamas, and one to Newfoundland which included a landing in L'Anse aux Meadows (where the Vikings came ashore).
Austin led to new personal opportunities for Joanne to pursue her prowess in dealing with words and their placement and arrangement, she began concentrating on the most difficult crosswords she could find, tackling every single Harper's Puzzle (found at the very end of Harper's magazine). A winner is determined by random choice from all the correct puzzle submissions. After winning for the first time, there came win after win, finally amounting to four wins and what surely is a record of some sort. Harper's finally established a rule that made a submitter ineligible for one year following a win.
Perhaps her most enthusiastic activity was her beloved water aerobics classes at the Austin 24-Hour Fitness club. Joanne became a member of a tight-knit group of like-minded water enthusiasts meeting three times a week to be put through demanding sequences of aerobic maneuvers. Friendships made here led to many social activities which kept Joanne's calender really full all year round. Many of the class visited repeatedly during her final days.
On September 8, 2012, the Trimbles celebrated 50 years of marriage at home with many close friends and family in attendance. Pictures may be found below.
In May 2013, Joanne learned of her pancreatic cancer diagnosis. She expended great energy and effort to join for three weeks in a Trial of some new anti-Cancer agents. Finally overwhelmed by the effects of her condition, she withdrew to Hospice Austin where she died on June 30, 2013.
Joanne is preceded in death by her parents and her brother James and is survived by her husband of 50 years Benjamin Andres Trimble, a sister-in-law Jessie Ozmelek (husband Savas), a nephew Raif Ozmelek (wife Kerry Ozmelek) and niece Aylin Lewallen (husband Mike Lewallen).
A memorial get-together took place August 3rd, 2013 at 2:00PM CDT at the Trimble home -- 6300 Shadow Mountain Dr., Austin. In addition, an Internet broadcast took place Aug. 3rd. The text and broadcast video are both available below.
As a tribute, and in lieu of flowers and donations, your participation is requested in the effort detailed below called "Let's Talk".
Please sign Joanne's guestbook.
Don't worry about mistakes. They will be edited away.
Locally published obituaries for Joanne, the texts of which are entirely included above, are to be found in the July 3rd print edition of the Austin American Statesman, as well as the Statesman Internet version (for one year) at:
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/statesman/obituary.aspx?n=joanne-swendsen-trimble&pid=165649876
Guestbook from the Statesman newspaper
Alaska Trip
In 1965 the Trimbles moved to New York City and from 1965 to 66, Joanne taught at Hunter College, followed by Upsala College from 1965-67. At this time the Trimbles participated in The Linnaean Society of New York, during what surely was its heyday. Christmas Bird Counts were pursued with gusto, including the respected Montauk Christmas Count. It was on this count that both Trimbles stayed in the Manor House on Gardiner's Island, and experienced the hospitality of Robert David Lion Gardiner and the exciting count guest Roger Peterson (a bird guide autograph bears the date of December 16, 1978). After the University of Pennsylvania, Joanne taught at Glassboro State College (now Rowan University) from 1972 to 1984. It was during this time that she participated along with her husband in the establishment of a new Computer Science major.
In 1984, the Trimbles moved to Rhinebeck, New York where Joanne joined the Math Department at Marist College in Poughkeepsie. In 1992, she joined her husband in Austin, Texas, where she accepted the pleasures of retirement. Joanne delighted in each of two mini dachshunds -- Hilbert, a red dapple, and Lindbergh, a black-and tan retired champion.
She and her husband traveled widely, including many trips in their Mooney Executive 21 aircraft, one of which led them on an extended trip to Alaska (see web site below). Other excursions included two trips to Belize, six to the Bahamas, and one to Newfoundland which included a landing in L'Anse aux Meadows (where the Vikings came ashore).
Austin led to new personal opportunities for Joanne to pursue her prowess in dealing with words and their placement and arrangement, she began concentrating on the most difficult crosswords she could find, tackling every single Harper's Puzzle (found at the very end of Harper's magazine). A winner is determined by random choice from all the correct puzzle submissions. After winning for the first time, there came win after win, finally amounting to four wins and what surely is a record of some sort. Harper's finally established a rule that made a submitter ineligible for one year following a win.
Perhaps her most enthusiastic activity was her beloved water aerobics classes at the Austin 24-Hour Fitness club. Joanne became a member of a tight-knit group of like-minded water enthusiasts meeting three times a week to be put through demanding sequences of aerobic maneuvers. Friendships made here led to many social activities which kept Joanne's calender really full all year round. Many of the class visited repeatedly during her final days.
On September 8, 2012, the Trimbles celebrated 50 years of marriage at home with many close friends and family in attendance. Pictures may be found below.
In May 2013, Joanne learned of her pancreatic cancer diagnosis. She expended great energy and effort to join for three weeks in a Trial of some new anti-Cancer agents. Finally overwhelmed by the effects of her condition, she withdrew to Hospice Austin where she died on June 30, 2013.
Joanne is preceded in death by her parents and her brother James and is survived by her husband of 50 years Benjamin Andres Trimble, a sister-in-law Jessie Ozmelek (husband Savas), a nephew Raif Ozmelek (wife Kerry Ozmelek) and niece Aylin Lewallen (husband Mike Lewallen).
A memorial get-together took place August 3rd, 2013 at 2:00PM CDT at the Trimble home -- 6300 Shadow Mountain Dr., Austin. In addition, an Internet broadcast took place Aug. 3rd. The text and broadcast video are both available below.
As a tribute, and in lieu of flowers and donations, your participation is requested in the effort detailed below called "Let's Talk".
Please sign Joanne's guestbook.
Don't worry about mistakes. They will be edited away.
Locally published obituaries for Joanne, the texts of which are entirely included above, are to be found in the July 3rd print edition of the Austin American Statesman, as well as the Statesman Internet version (for one year) at:
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/statesman/obituary.aspx?n=joanne-swendsen-trimble&pid=165649876
Guestbook from the Statesman newspaper
Alaska Trip
Fiftieth
Anniversary Party
Joanne's Family
Memorial Get-together Broadcast
Memorial Get-together Essay Text
Bach Bradenburg Concerto #6 (Karl Richter)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
One's participation could be as little as one session with a young person. The goal is to explore the strengths of that young person from a career perspective including where he or she might fit in. Let's Talk can be both an educational experience as well as a confidence-building one. A career is to be thought of as a "life path". A career can and probably will involve a job, but that is only part of the story.
What might happen in a session of Let's Talk? Well, you, the older person (OP) with your job experience and, beyond that, your perspective on life in general can leverage things like: "How did you get your first career-oriented job"? "Did it mesh with your self-view or, if not, did it help you find the 'new you' ".
A pre-career young person (YP) is someone who would like to participate and is not presently pursuing a career-oriented job (they may have "a job" of course).
A dialogue like the following might possibly occur:
OP: Hi ____, this get-together should be fun and interesting -- perhaps as much so for me as for you. So to start, what do you think you are good at, both in general terms as well as specific ones.
YP: Boy I don't know. That's what I'm hoping to get out of this.
OP: Well, I need some feedback from you since I'm not going to put words in your mouth. You're the important one here, not me. I won't be around in 40 years, but you will be. Let's try a different tack. What do you enjoy doing the most? What would be an activity that's so nice for you that its too good to believe that it could be a future career.
As the dialog above tries to convey, the OP is doing a mini-recapture of the classical mentoring relationship between a teacher or family member and a young person, but "Let's Talk" is meant to involve a limited time effort. The YP could be any young person. If worthwhile results happen, followup sessions could take place.
The session will be a success if it starts the young person thinking about his or her path through life. One session certainly will not provide the final answer in what should be a dynamic, ongoing, evolving process.
I(BT) will combine,quote and synthesize and place the ongoing results sent to me at the email below on this web site every few days.
1. No communication option. You do the interview, but don't tell us the results.
2. You send an email talking about your interview, but request the "no Internet" option.
3. You send an email talking about your experience and allowing "Internet quoting", but with no names used (neither yours nor the young person's name).
4. You send an email talking about your experience and allowing "Internet quoting" with your name used, but the young person's name withheld.
Options 1 through 4 all withhold the name of the young person (YP).
5. You send an email saying I'm a young person (YP) and here's what I would like to or did get out of such a session. (First name only used or entirely withheld at your option).
Please sign Joanne's guestbook
Email: bt@btrimble.net
Joanne's Family
Memorial Get-together Broadcast
Memorial Get-together Essay Text
Bach Bradenburg Concerto #6 (Karl Richter)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Let's Talk
This is not a
preexisting national program as some
have thought, but rather a recently
conceived idea coming out of discussions
between Joanne and her husband. It is
meant to honor her and an important
aspect of the teaching profession, one
that has perhaps received too little
attention -- namely the
ongoing dialogue that can and should
take place about where a young
person might be going in life as a
result of her or his education and
life experience. Parents and others
can and should be important
participants in this effort, and
thus the "Let's Talk" effort.One's participation could be as little as one session with a young person. The goal is to explore the strengths of that young person from a career perspective including where he or she might fit in. Let's Talk can be both an educational experience as well as a confidence-building one. A career is to be thought of as a "life path". A career can and probably will involve a job, but that is only part of the story.
What might happen in a session of Let's Talk? Well, you, the older person (OP) with your job experience and, beyond that, your perspective on life in general can leverage things like: "How did you get your first career-oriented job"? "Did it mesh with your self-view or, if not, did it help you find the 'new you' ".
A pre-career young person (YP) is someone who would like to participate and is not presently pursuing a career-oriented job (they may have "a job" of course).
A dialogue like the following might possibly occur:
OP: Hi ____, this get-together should be fun and interesting -- perhaps as much so for me as for you. So to start, what do you think you are good at, both in general terms as well as specific ones.
YP: Boy I don't know. That's what I'm hoping to get out of this.
OP: Well, I need some feedback from you since I'm not going to put words in your mouth. You're the important one here, not me. I won't be around in 40 years, but you will be. Let's try a different tack. What do you enjoy doing the most? What would be an activity that's so nice for you that its too good to believe that it could be a future career.
As the dialog above tries to convey, the OP is doing a mini-recapture of the classical mentoring relationship between a teacher or family member and a young person, but "Let's Talk" is meant to involve a limited time effort. The YP could be any young person. If worthwhile results happen, followup sessions could take place.
The session will be a success if it starts the young person thinking about his or her path through life. One session certainly will not provide the final answer in what should be a dynamic, ongoing, evolving process.
I(BT) will combine,quote and synthesize and place the ongoing results sent to me at the email below on this web site every few days.
Followup
Options
A participant may choose any of
the followup options below:1. No communication option. You do the interview, but don't tell us the results.
2. You send an email talking about your interview, but request the "no Internet" option.
3. You send an email talking about your experience and allowing "Internet quoting", but with no names used (neither yours nor the young person's name).
4. You send an email talking about your experience and allowing "Internet quoting" with your name used, but the young person's name withheld.
Options 1 through 4 all withhold the name of the young person (YP).
5. You send an email saying I'm a young person (YP) and here's what I would like to or did get out of such a session. (First name only used or entirely withheld at your option).
Followup
Benjamin
Trimble: A very rewarding give-and-take Lets Talk discussion
took place recently between myself and a neighborhood high-school
student, Emily. The session was about one hour and
explored many career possibilities. I and Emily
both felt it was very worthwhile. More general
observations may be forthcoming, but no personal
details will be revealed.
Benjamin Trimble: Another give
and take session took place a week ago with a young coed
at a major University in the southeast. The discussion
focused on how important communication -- oral or
written -- is in any career. Typically, one is trying to
present an idea and convince a possibly skeptical
audience its validity. I detected some excitement in
this young person's view of where she is going. I really
think young people are very surprised and encouraged
when we interact in this way.Please sign Joanne's guestbook
Email: bt@btrimble.net