32 Years Later: Remembering Joanna Connors

Each spring dozens of scholarships are awarded to seniors who are graduating from Canton High School. There is a story behind each award. One scholarship may have been created by a wealthy individual to help needy students in town. Another may be funded through a community group’s fundraising efforts. Then there are those scholarships created by a family to honor the memory of a loved one, such as the Joanna Allison Connors Memorial Scholarship.

Joanna was born on July 21, 1978, the third child of Jerry and Marcia Connors. The couple already had a son, Jeffrey, and a daughter, Jill. They were fortunate enough to have another daughter, Lauren, two years after Joanna passed away.

Jerry and Marcia both describe Joanna as smart. “She was a very little tiny child,” Marcia said. “Very pretty and very smart. Of course, I can say that, because I’m her mother.”

“She had street smarts at that age,” Jerry said. “I would come home from work and she would run up to me and say, ‘Daddy, I love you.’ Then I found out what she had done.”

Jerry added that when Joanna was told that she couldn’t do something because she wasn’t big enough, her answer was, “I a bigger girl.”

Her parents said that Joanna loved to swim, play on the swings, finger paint, and everything Disney. She was able to speak very well by the time she was 15 months old and enjoyed playing with other children, especially her sister Jill, who was three years her senior.

The Connors family had a dog named Patches who slept in Jill’s room. Once Joanna arrived, however, Patches began to sleep under her crib. As Joanna grew older she discovered different ways that Patches could amuse her.

“[Joanna] was really tiny,” Marcia said. “She didn’t eat that much. When she didn’t feel like eating anymore, she would throw her food to the dog. That was the best fed dog.”

“She also dragged the dog around,” Jerry said. “When she wanted something and couldn’t reach it, she climbed up on the dog.”

In July of 1981, Jerry and Marcia had a birthday party for Joanna. Ten days later on July 31, when Marcia went to wake her daughter up, Joanna was unresponsive. Marcia called the pediatrician, Dr. Honikman, who told her to get Joanna to Children’s Hospital. When Joanna arrived at about 10:30 in the morning, she was in a coma. At approximately 1:00 the following morning, August 1, Joanna passed away. Doctors were not sure what caused her death, thinking it may have been a virus or Triple E.

After Joanna died, the Connors looked for a way to keep their daughter’s memory alive. They started by donating money to the Canton Public Library to purchase a podium for the Children’s Room.

“She really loved the Canton library,” Marcia said. “She loved to be read to. She loved the story times.”

They also contributed to the doll house in the Children’s Room, which was built by the senior Mr. Kruger, who owned Yankee Lumber. “We decorated it,” Jerry said.

In 1982, friends Barry and Joan Greene suggested that the Connors do something else to memorialize Joanna. Barry, an attorney, came up with the idea of a scholarship. This year marks the 31^st consecutive year that Joanna’s scholarship has been awarded to students from CHS. In the beginning, the Connors gave away two $250 scholarships. Over time, they selected four students who each received a scholarship for $500. The Connors also award two scholarships worth $500 to students who are members of the Temple Beth Abraham congregation.

Jerry and Marcia Connors select the CHS winners themselves based on applications that students submit with information about their activities, part-time jobs, the number of siblings in college, and which university they plan to attend. “We try to get an all-around student,” Jerry said.

They accept donations from individuals who would like to honor someone who is celebrating a birthday or anniversary, or to remember someone who has passed away. Marcia sends a card and message to the friend or family to let them know that a donation has been made in their name. Donations may be sent to Joanna Allison Connors Foundation, 11 Jennifer Way, South Easton, MA 02375.

The work of reading the scholarship applications and selecting recipients is bittersweet for the Connors. “It allows us to focus on Joanna every year,” Marcia said. “By focusing, it makes us sad to remember. But the idea is very worthwhile — that we can do something to help somebody.”

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Posted by Mary Ann Price on Jul 18 2013. Filed under Features. Both comments and pings are currently closed.