Joy Koenig - History in Photographs

Joy V. Koenig Were you actually looking for my nature photography?
I was born in the Cleveland area on November 18, 1959 at 2:18 am. These first photos are from my early childhood. I was the youngest of four -- just 15 months after twins, so there aren't many photos of me before the age of 3 or 4 - my parents were so busy managing four children between the ages of newborn and four years old!

This is the house I lived in with my parents, two sisters and brother until I was 10 years old. It was wonderful to be able to swim, fish and ice skate in our backyard.
These are my grade school photographs. I started at Lake Ridge Academy in North Ridgeville, Ohio, and then we moved to Medina and I was put in a public school (Sidney Fenn).

This is the house we moved to when I was in fourth grade. We could still play in the water, but now also had the woods. Less than an hour from Cleveland, we had the symphony, ballet, and opera within easy reach.
My junior high and high school years were a mix of fun and work. I loved being in choir, Girls Leaders Club, and participating in a wide variety of activities, including being an AFS exchange student to Belgium for the summer of 1977. I graduated at the 5% mark of my high school class, in spite of the fact I rarely opened a book. My favorite / most fondly remembered class is 10th grade Honors English with Ms. Elrich. We did a lot of creative writing. I also really enjoyed being an assistant in the math department.

I started college at the University of Rochester, and transfered to the University of Cincinnati after just one semester there (no, not too cold & snowy -- too academic for my playful personality!) I went on to Ohio State University College of Medicine, and then completed an internship in Pediatrics. I met my (now ex) husband during medical school - no, not a fellow medical student - just a guy who passed me on I-71 when I was on my way back to Ohio State after visiting my father in Medina, and he and his friends were returning to Cincinnati after a bowling tournament.

I'm sure it's no surprise that I ended up right back on the water when I was on my own.
I lived in the Boston area from 1988 - 2006, serving as an EIS Officer for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, then the Associate Regional Health Administrator for U.S. PHS Region I. Being in the system showed me the inside scoop on how research and health care service dollars were really allocated, and I chose to resign my commission in the PHS when the funding for my position as an HIV/AIDS Coordinator and FDA Fraud investigator were terminated. I founded my health education / primary preventive medicine business in 1993 (then called BALANCE - The Art and Science of Health), and have never looked back with a moment of regret, in spite of the many personal and professional mountains and valleys that have followed (30+ moves! - I've now lived in 8 different states). In the words of Helen Keller, "Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing."

These are photos of my former front and back yards. Yes, I've been able to live in some fun places, yet living in Denver is the first time I've truly felt "I'm home!", even though I miss having a large (or small) body of water as my backyard. I'm hoping to find a place here that IS on a small body of water -- we'll see what shows up!
California Nevada Maine Maryland

Photos taken of me since I moved to the Denver area on December 18, 2006.

I've always lived an active lifestyle, and don't plan to change that anytime soon.

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