Joanne Gillen Cortese, the youngest of eleven children born to Cecilia Wagner and Sebastian Gillen, was born in 1934 in the family home on a farm near Faribault, Minnesota. After fifty years in classrooms and administrative offices, Dr. Joanne Gillen Cortese was recognized as Professor Emeritus, awarded by the Department of Professional and Technical Communication at Montana Technological University in Butte, Montana. Joanne lives in Ellensburg, Washington, with her husband and best friend, Jim Cortese. Jim and Joanne take pride in their children, their children’s spouses, and their grandchildren: Brian, Becky, Nate, and Ella Cortese; Jackie, Marty, Mason, and Sienna Mrachek.