Joan Towers (pronounced Joe-Ann) lives in New Canaan now. She lived here once before, as well. She arrived in New Canaan all the way from Nebraska by way of California, Arizona and Europe. These days she just likes to hang around town.
"Even just a year ago I was driving all over the place," Towers said, relaxing with her feet up on a bench in Mead Park. "I don't want to drive anymore, even to Norwalk or Stamford."
Towers grew up on a "big farm" in Nebraska with her parents and sister. She went to college there, graduated and began teaching preschoolers and first graders, all in Nebraska. While in school, New York Yankees prospects were sent to train in the minors in the area, and Towers met several ball players while in school.
"They came to this town and didn't know anyone, and I had a car!" she exclaimed, laughing. "I think I fell in love three years in a row back then."
Many pursued her, and she was engaged briefly, but it didn't turn out to be the right time for her to settle down, she said. When a number of her sorority sisters took off for the West Coast, she felt the pull of the ocean and left Nebraska behind.
There, she lived with her friends in an apartment in Santa Anna, until they noticed a huge house up for rent on a corner lot right on the beach in Corona Del Mar.
"We couldn't afford it on our own, so we asked the girls who lived above us, who we didn't know all that well, if they wanted to join in with us," she smiles thinking back. "All eight of us, all teachers, moved into this big house on the beach. Everybody knew that's where the eight teachers lived. And with [a military base nearby], we all married Marines."
They all stayed married, too, Towers said. She and her husband Tom, from Long Island, just celebrated their 50th anniversary. Tom graduated from Princeton, joined the Marines for several years, then came home and decided to get his MBA from Harvard.
Married now, Joan and Tom drove across the country to Boston together. Following his graduation, they returned to California. Their first son, Tommy, now 47, was born in Newport. Their second son, Andrew, 43, was born the day following their move into New Canaan.
"I called my mother-in-law, who lived about an hour away in Ridgewood, NJ," Towers said. "She took Tommy for about a week while I was in the hospital. We moved here and he couldn't wait to get out."
The eldest lives in the first house the family ever lived in in New Canaan. The younger, Andrew, is now the head lacrosse coach for Dartmouth University in Vermont, from where Tower's father-in-law graduated.
The family lived in Phoenix for a bit when the kids were younger, but they eventually returned to New Canaan for good. With Tom commuting to IBM in White Plains everyday, Towers joined the New Canaan "Newcomers," a group with organized activities for those new to town. She joined the tennis lessons group, and still plays to this day.
Just as her sons were reaching the end of their college educations, either just graduated or about to finish up, Tower's husband, now with a different company, was promoted to head of data communications for Europe, the Middle East and Belgium. With the boys out on their own, Towers got to travel with her husband. They lived overseas for roughly seven years, from Brussels to London to Amsterdam.
"We didn't have to worry about the boys at that point," she said. "I got to see every place alongside [Tom]. I saw the world like I'd never dreamed I would. I got to see Sweden; all my grandparents are Swedish. I finally got to see it."
Now, back and retired in New Canaan, Towers is just waiting for the Mead Park tennis courts to be ready. Tuesday, grounds crews were putting on finishing touches for the court openings later this week or the next. Towers can walk down to the park from the condo they currently live in, so while she waits, she'll sit and watch the youngsters play on the playground.
"I have sweet memories of pretty much everything I've done in life," she said. "I've had a very nice life. All I can be is thankful for everything."
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