JoAnne Heaney, Los Osos Treasure - by Nicole Dorfman

 

     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note:  JoAnne Heaney, Los Osos Treasure  is a one-time column about a much-loved and respected resident  of the Central Coast.

 

 May, 2011            JoAnne Heaney, Los Osos Treasure

 

Joanne's story began far from these ocean views in the river valley of the small Connecticut town where her father farmed tobacco, and then, with the coming of the Great Depression, potatoes.   Her early penchant for science—perhaps formed on the farm—eventually led her to study chemistry at Smith College in Massachusetts and finally to Stanford College in California.  Here Joanne abandoned science for the study of art and English that would serve as a foundation for the rest of her life's work.