2N.  Joan Marie Linz was born in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A., on Sunday, June 3, 1934. She and Joseph are twins. Leonard Wilfred Vezina was born in Norwich, Connecticut, on Thursday, August 10, 1933, and died in Baltimore on February 23, 1968. He died in an automobile accident. They were married in Sacred Heart Church, Baltimore, Maryland, on Saturday, June 20, 1953. She took the name Joan Marie Vezina. She is the daughter of Conrad Julius and Anna Mary (Telljohann) Linz. He is the son of Wilfred and Mildred (Mondor) Vezina. They had one child:

Her second marriage was to Albert Arthur Burnham in Baltimore on Friday, August 1, 1969. She took the name Joan Marie Burnham. They were divorced. He was born in Laurel, Maryland, on Wednesday, April 25, 1945, and died in Baltimore _____. He is the son of Albert Arthur and Emma (Rider) Burnham. They had one child:

Her third marriage was to Donald Charles Hughes in Joppatown, Harford County, Maryland, on Saturday, March 17, 1984. She took the name Joan Marie Hughes. He was born in Baltimore on Wednesday, February 6, 1935. He is the son of Kenneth Summerville and Josephine (Jorio) Hughes.

Don and Joan Hughes, July 2000

Joan and her older twin, Joe, were the 13th and 14th children in the family, all born in the span of but 16 years. For the next four years in this time of depression all 14 children would be at home with their parents. When no pregnancy occurred the year after Joe and Joan were born, it appeared that Joan might be the youngest child. However, this distinction lasted only until she was six years old.

Joan attended and graduated from Sacred Heart School and went on to Patterson High School, becoming the second high school graduate in the family. Her elder brothers and sisters had had to take jobs after elementary school to help support the family; all of their high school was done at night. Joan helped out by scrubbing floors in Sacred Heart Convent and in an office close to home. When she was able to get a job as a salesgirl at age 15, the contrast made her feel proud and important. She gave most of her income to her mother to run the household, and most of the remainder bought her clothes at the store at a discount. One spring a particular coat caught her eye but it was much too expensive for her to buy. However, she was enamored of a certain young man and wanted so much to impress him that she put the coat on lay-away and paid a dollar a week toward it, week after week after week. While the coat did not cement a bond between them, their attraction was clearly mutual because he sought her out later in their lives and she became Mrs. Donald Hughes.

Joan and Len Vezina A wedding photo

After graduating from Patterson High, Joan worked at the Transit and Traffic Division of Baltimore City. The following summer she married Lenny Vezina and moved to California where he was transferred by the Navy. When his navy tour was over they moved to his home town of Norwich, Connecticut, where Debbie was born. Unable to find work, they returned to Baltimore were Joan was overjoyed at being reunited with her family. Joan worked as a school secretary for seven years during which time Lenny was killed in a automobile accident: his car ran off Erdman Avenue and struck a fire hydrant. It was the tremendous support of her family that enabled Debbie and her to withstand the pain of his untimely death.

Soon she met and married Al. They sold her house on Imla Street and built a larger house in Hampstead where Ricky was born. This marriage did not last so she and the two children moved back to her old neighborhood. Again her family rallied with emotional and financial support.

Joan returned to work as a secretary in the Mayor's office in Highlandtown where she remained for four years. She lived as a single parent for ten years until she met Don, having not seen him for 32 years. After dating three years, they we married. At that time Joan was working as a secretary at the Francis Scott Key Medical Center intensive care nursery. They each sold their houses and moved to a new home in Essex.

• Personal interviews