Archived: Joan

Meet Joan: a rough, indomitable woman who'll make you laugh and cry in equal measure. From humble beginnings in Ireland, to a new home in New Zealand with a brood of children, to factory work and homemaking in rural Fielding, her optimism for a simple life never wavered. But it was not all bread and roses for Joan, and looking back on her youth as an old woman many decades later, she experienced her fair share of hardships, too.