Joanne McEvilley Childers passed away peacefully at North Florida Regional Hospital on Friday May 30, 2008. She was a member of Holy Faith Catholic Church. She was a devoted Mother first as well as a Welfare and Social Worker and poet. Joanne was born September 5, 1926 in Cincinnati, Ohio. The youngest of eight children she attended the Summit Country Day School graduating on D-Day June 6, 1944. After attending the University of Cincinnati, the University of Wisconsin and Edgecliff College, now a part of Xavier University, she received a BA degree from Cincinnati in Modern European History in 1948. She participated in Guidon, the Literary Honorary Society, the Junior Advisor Program and was Secretary of Delta Delta Delta. A year later she came to Florida where she received an MA in Modern European History and English. It was there that she met her husband-to be, Bill Childers who was to become a Doctor of English Literature and a professor at the University of Florida. During her married life she did welfare work for several years, followed by seven years as a social worker at Sunland (now Tachachale). She also spent several years as Acting Director for Social Services at Sunland. Later she taught Creative Writing at Santa Fe Community College and did various editorial work. All throughout her life she wrote poetry where her welfare and Sunland experiences influenced her poetry, enriching her emotional stockpile. Her writings also focused on travel and family. She published two collections including The Long Distance and Moving Mother Out in which the poem The Effect of a Drought In Florida In August was awarded first prize at The First Coast Writers' Festival in Jacksonville, Florida. Her work appeared in many literary journals including The Florida Quarterly, The Carolina Quarterly, Sub Tropics, The Chattahoochee Review, Cumberland Poetry Review, The Florida Review, Lyric, The Suwannee Review, Commonweal, The Massachusetts Review, The South and West Review, College English, Indiana Writes, Kalliope, Woodrider, The Kentucky Poetry Review, Dekalb Literary Quarterly, Poet Lore, Konglomerati, Forum, Caesura, Poet and Critic, State Street Review and in the author's chapbook, the Long Distance published by American Studies Press. Most recently she completed another collection of poems, entitled Kumquats. In 1981 she was awarded a poetry grant from the State of Florida, Florida Council for the Fine Arts, Division of Cultural Affairs. Two of her poems were reprinted in textbooks published by Harcourt and Brace and Simon & Schuster and she was twice nominated for a Pushcart Award. She was the beloved wife of the late Dr. William Childers, loving mother of Cole Childers and Rob Childers of Gainesville, FL; Tom Childers of Atlanta, GA and the late Emily Childers, dear sister of Helen Siemon of Cincinnati, OH; Shailah Jones of Auburn, AL and the late Mary Jane Grainger, Thomas, Billy, Jack, and Robert McEvilley. Also survived by 5 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren. Services will be held Saturday, June 7, 2008 at Holy Faith Catholic Church at 9:00 A. M., The family will receive friends Friday, June 6, 2008, from 5 to 7 P. M., in the Williams Thomas Funeral Home Westarea, 823 NW 143rd Street. Graveside services will be held at Gate of Heaven Cemetery, in Cincinnati, Ohio on Monday June 9 at 10:30 AM. For those who wish, donations may be made to the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation, 4460 Lake Forest Drive, Suite 236, Cinti OH 45242.

Service

Monday, June 9, 2008 10:30 AM Gate of Heaven Cemetery 11000 Montgomery Road Cincinnati 45249, United States