Jo and the Ballet Master: Prologue
Posted: Sat Oct 07, 2023 7:45 pm
The closest we can come to "knowing Jo" is through the observations of the Wisconsin columnist who met her in Hawaii. Ms. Lambert describes a woman who is enthusiastic, joyful, and capable, with with energy to burn. https://www.ttbrown.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=698
But the Brown's peripatetic life style would eventually take its toll on Jo, in more ways than one. And though it now seems unforgivable that Townsend left her in Umatilla, to deal with uterine cancer and a 13 year old girl on her own, I am certain there was some justification that she understood and supported.
Barely recuperated and in the midst of a howling winter storm, she responded with grace and good humor when introduced to the the ramshackle log cabin in North Carolina that was to be the only home the Browns would ever own. Less than a year later, they were on the move again.
It was two more years before home ownership again seemed to be in their reach. The family even found a house and barn they wanted to buy, in Chantilly, VA, the location of the newly created National Reconnaissance Organization (NRO). But when those plans went awry, Jo had reached the limit of her endurance. She determined that they would separate for good this time and Townsend left for Meadville without her.
There had been talk of a breakup before, at the tail end of their time in Hawaii, but there was another man involved, then. Red was the single father of son Joe's BFF and varsity ball team mate. Red and Jo had bonded at the basketball games Townsend was too busy to attend.
To be fair, Townsend warned Jo that if she stayed with him, she was choosing a difficult and dangerous path. Did he also tell her that he had given a successful demonstration for President Truman that was compromised through Admiral/Janitor pillow talk?
If he did, Jo never said. But she would later speak freely with Linda about these times of near-separation. And yet curiously enough, she never mentioned the time that she and Townsend had actually, "successfully" achieved a divorce That fact would only come to light a few years after Jo's death, as Linda and Paul combed through Zanesville news papers.
End, part 1.
But the Brown's peripatetic life style would eventually take its toll on Jo, in more ways than one. And though it now seems unforgivable that Townsend left her in Umatilla, to deal with uterine cancer and a 13 year old girl on her own, I am certain there was some justification that she understood and supported.
Barely recuperated and in the midst of a howling winter storm, she responded with grace and good humor when introduced to the the ramshackle log cabin in North Carolina that was to be the only home the Browns would ever own. Less than a year later, they were on the move again.
It was two more years before home ownership again seemed to be in their reach. The family even found a house and barn they wanted to buy, in Chantilly, VA, the location of the newly created National Reconnaissance Organization (NRO). But when those plans went awry, Jo had reached the limit of her endurance. She determined that they would separate for good this time and Townsend left for Meadville without her.
There had been talk of a breakup before, at the tail end of their time in Hawaii, but there was another man involved, then. Red was the single father of son Joe's BFF and varsity ball team mate. Red and Jo had bonded at the basketball games Townsend was too busy to attend.
To be fair, Townsend warned Jo that if she stayed with him, she was choosing a difficult and dangerous path. Did he also tell her that he had given a successful demonstration for President Truman that was compromised through Admiral/Janitor pillow talk?
If he did, Jo never said. But she would later speak freely with Linda about these times of near-separation. And yet curiously enough, she never mentioned the time that she and Townsend had actually, "successfully" achieved a divorce That fact would only come to light a few years after Jo's death, as Linda and Paul combed through Zanesville news papers.
End, part 1.