Jo's story
Jo grew up in a family of teachers and church people. Her father Ivan was an Army chaplain, pastor, and special education teacher; her mother Velma taught elementary school and ran a preschool. Jo earned the Girls in Action Queen Regent award, crown, scepter, and cape included, and loved being a queen. When she was very little she tried, and failed, to baptize the family cat.
Jo majored in early childhood education at Towson University, where a professor and friend, Barbara Pour, set her up on a blind date with a tall guy named Richard Wray. Jo and her sister peeked through the curtains to check him out. They were married on Christmas Eve in 1971, after her first semester of teaching.
With Richard's support, Jo kept teaching and earned her master's degree. During her career as a lower elementary school teacher, Jo loved nourishing and educating children. Some of her students reached out decades later to let her family know how much she meant to them. Being a grandmother to Ava revived Jo's love of stories, games, crafts, and of course, many stuffed animals.
Jo loved sewing, quilting, and even better, hunting a good bargain on craft supplies. If a craft involved a heart, Jo loved it even more because of her maiden name, Hart.
Jo loved Christmas and supported Richard's retirement job as a mall Santa. But you'd better not call her Mrs. Claus unless you wanted to get put on the naughty list. Jo Wray stuck to her own name and her own story.