The date was June 15, 1941. Freda Livingston Bacorn and Joseph Bacorn, Jr. welcomed their first bundle of joy, Joanna, into the world. Several years later, Fred came along, but that’s a whole different story…
Saturday, June 18, a birthday party in celebration of 70 amazing years was held at the home of daughter, Debbie and son-in-law, Mike Shattuck, in Ozark. Elder daughter, Cindy Wood Venable, and cousin, Kelly Hutchison Timpe, assisted in frying chicken and rounding up the crew.
Family started gathering around 4 p.m. awaiting the party girl. It wasn’t long before her chauffer (and better half) Alan Wood pulled the limo (okay it was really a Buick) ’round back and opened the passenger door. Joanna made her appearance adorning her sporty new haircut (now she looks just like Freda and Reba) and a straw hat. She was “Diva for a Day” and received a card signed by all the partygoers. She also received a nifty little fruit bowl (a/k/a bedpan full of fruit) and other gifts that made everyone giggle.
A head-count of 43 family members was noted as partygoers partook of an old fashioned dinner on the grounds. Fare for the day was fried chicken, barbecued ribs and smoked pork tenderloin. Because of all the great cooks in the family, there were too many sides to mention.
The creme de la creme was Grandma Freda’s chocolate cake with fudge icing as well as Aunt Reba’s blackberry cobbler, recreated by Debbie Shattuck and Kelly Timpe. Of course, there was homemade ice cream!
Stories and laughter (and a lot of indigestion) filled the afternoon and into the evening. A good time was had by all.
