June 2001                                                              The Megaphone                                                               Page 3

Joan (Phillips) Dice, pictured above with husband Doug, is one of the newer of the Panther Den moderators. She and Doug live in Southeastern Michigan. They share their home with two "well spoiled" cats. Joan put her interest in mathematics and statistics to work for the Den recently when she compiled a list of Den members by graduating class.

Joan grew up in Elwood where she attended  school at St. Joseph Elementary until she was a 4th grader when the school was closed.  She then attended Oakland Elementary  in 5th and 6th grade and moved on to 7th grade which was held in the old Central School building. When Joan began 8th grade, the new high school had been built so her class was in the old high school that year. Finally she spent her high school years at the "new" Elwood High School. So, as she said, she "did get to 'experience' some of those old buildings that no longer exist except in our hearts." Joan finished her education at Indiana University where she was graduated in 1982 with a BS in Business with a major in Finance.

In high school Joan must have been a pretty busy gal. She was in the National Honor Society.  She also was a member of the Latin Club, French Club, and Spanish Club. In Latin Club Joan was a co-consul -- aka co-president. As a member of Thespians Joan was usually helping behind scenes, but she did play the roll of Zaneeta, the mayor's daughter "(Yeeeeeee gods!)" and was also one of the "Pick A Little" ladies in the production of The Music Man.  During her senior year, Joan was an officer in FLBA. She was a member of the "Brain Game" team. She was also very active in Junior Achievement, and was an officer all three years. She was also an officer in the Achievers' Association which coordinates the activities for JA in Madison County.

Joan works at Kohl's Department Store in Novi, MI. She has been with Kohl's for 7 years, first at Castleton Mall. Then she moved with the store to a new location on 96th Street and I-69. When Doug was transferred to Southern Michigan, Joan transferred to the Kohl's where she works now.
  

In her free time,  Joan likes to walk and bicycle with her husband.  They enjoy going places where one can really enjoy nature and where there is hardly anyone around. They enjoy stopping to watch the animals. Joan says that Doug is really good at noticing things others wouldn't see such as small animals hiding. Together with her sister Cindy, Joan is exploring genealogy. She says it has caused them to communicate a lot more than they had since they were children. "It is so fun finding out stories about your ancestors, so they don't just seem like staid names on pieces of paper. Some stories have had us laughing so hard, tears have been rolling down our faces.  But that makes us love it even more..."  Reading is another thing Joan enjoys however lately she hasn't had much time so she buys magazines like Readers Digest or Time and reads them.  And of course the Den is a big interest.

Joan discovered the Den after moving to Michigan. She had just bought her first computer and heard her sister Cindy, also a Den member, talking about Classmates.com. She remembers reading about the Den there and joined she thinks in September, 1999. The Den was still pretty new then, a fact which Joan didn't realize till the next year. She was one of the first 100 members.

At first, though many of us may find this hard to believe, Joan was rather quiet. She preferred just to read the email and felt it was "like eavesdropping on conversations." She thought everyone knew everyone else as in "face-to-face." It was only later she realized that many of us were just on line friends. Finally Joan began joining in and it was easy to write. This "...really helped with (her) homesickness, being able to keep with all the news from back home."

Joan loves all the "different characters" in the Den and being part of everyone's life. Her favorite part is teasing and being teased back.  Her "favorite" target is Doc.  "He comes back with the best lines which always crack me (sic) up."

Joan says her life is pretty sedate right now.  She, Doug and the two pampered pets are the only ones at home.  Since they have no children she lives to see her nieces and nephews and the chance to "act like a kid again." Her mom always called her "her big kid" though she can think of a "...couple of siblings who would also fall into that category."