Joann Garraux sits in her living room, working on a quilt. She’s made and given many, keeping track of the recipients over the years.
Joann browses through a photo album documenting quilts she has made and given away over the years.
Joann was once the Brown County High School Eagle mascot for a game, a dream fulfilled.
A wedding portrait of Ernest and Joann Garraux is center on the wall above the piano, between two paintings done by an old preacher’s wife. The two photos below show a snow-covered church in Alabama, where Joann and Ernest married. On the left, a photo of her parents looking over the cotton field in Alabama, the house where Joann was born sits far off in the distance.
Editor’s note: Each year, the Brown County Democrat celebrates some aspect of Brown County history in our Founders Day section. This year we’re writing about residents who are about 80 or older, who have incredible stories to share and who define “Brown County character” in some way or another. If you have a suggestion for a person to feature in the next Founders Day issue, send it to [email protected] or call us at 812-988-2221.
SPEARSVILLE — Joann Garraux sits at the kitchen table in the home she and her husband built 55 years ago, flipping through albums, their photos bearing similar — yet different — subjects.
Each slot is occupied by a photo of a quilt, all varying in size and pattern. She made every single one, then sent them on to new homes.
The craft has been passed down to Joann from her mother and grandmother.
Her childhood home had a screened-in porch between the bedrooms and kitchen. Her mother, Clara Arnold, would hang the quilt she was making from the ceiling, and roll it up to keep it out of the way.
Joann was born Dec. 9, 1934, in Stevenson, Ala., the second of six children.
Her father, William Arnold, was a cotton farmer.
He decided to look for better work and found a job at Camp Atterbury, in Johnson County. The Arnold family moved from Alabama to Brown County in 1945, the same year World War II came to an end.
Joann said she still has a heart for the south, and “everything is ‘Roll Tide.’”
She went to school in Spearsville, then attended Helmsburg School, where she graduated.
Her family’s first home was on Homestead Road. The first year there, they all got whooping cough, Joann remembered.
The following year they moved to another home, which burned down.
Finally they ended up across the road from where Joann’s current home is, on Spearsville Road.
When her cousin was in the U.S. Air Force, he gave Ernest Garraux, a fellow soldier, Joann’s address.
Joann and Ernest became pen pals while he was in the service, and married in Alabama on Dec. 18, 1955.
They built a home on Spearsville Road in 1967, next door to her parents. Joann still lives there.
The couple had three daughters, who all live within five or six miles of their mother, as well as three grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
Ernest was a chief electrician at Indianapolis Power and Light, and Joann worked as a key encoder at Anacomp in Indianapolis, which managed federal and state records.
All of her kids went through the Brown County Schools.
“It was a joy to have my children,” she said.
“It was an experience I tell you, three teens at the same time. It takes a lot of love, they were always really respectful to me. Taught them to love other people, respect other people and treat people the way they wanted to be treated.”
Now, she supports the grandkids at ball games when she can.
She was the Eagle mascot at a Brown County High School football game years ago.
Her family had been going to ball games, and one night she said, “I’d just love to be the eagle.”
Moments later, she was in the suit.
“You can hardly walk in the big feet,” she said. “I was so excited, until I thought about how many people had been in it.”
Being a working mother was difficult, but the load was lightened with the help of her mother, who babysat their children.
“It was hard for me,” Joann said. She went to work because her mother-in-law passed away and their family had finances to cover.
When Anacomp closed in the late 1980s, Joann made a career change.
Her daughters were grown and married with kids of their own, so she and Ernest decided she would help take care of their grandchildren.
‘Blessed beyond measure’
One thing that has carried Joann through life has been her faith.
“If I didn’t have the Lord, I don’t know I’d ever made it,” she said.
A moment that she looked to the Lord was after the passing of Ernest, who died suddenly in 1992, at 57 years old. The following year, one of her daughters was diagnosed with breast cancer.
“I had to turn to the Lord,” she said.
She also looked to her family and friends in that time.
“You’ve got to have friends you can lean on. People were so good to me.”
Joann deeply cares about people, showing it through her quilts, writing letters to veterans or serving in her church.
Joann has been devoted to her church through the years, attending and serving at Unity Baptist Church, down the road from her home.
She has taught Sunday school, Bible school, served in the youth group and worked in the kitchen.
Serving for many years, she said the reward is great.
“I look now at the little ones who were in Sunday school, now they’re graduating high school and college. I worked so long with them, they come to me as toddlers, now they’re graduating. Feels awesome when you see them, but sad too.”
She added that they remember her by her Texas sheet cake and macaroni and cheese.
Joann said she has just wants to be as active in her church as she can.
“I can’t do all the things I used to, but I don’t want to be put out to pasture,” she said. Then she chuckled.
“If I am, I’m going to look over the fence.”
She also deeply cares for veterans, and looks for different ways to serve those who have served their country.
She and her family put flags on military graves on Memorial Day at the Unity Church cemetery and she also wrote soldiers in Desert Storm, and made quilts for them when they came home.
One of the young men she wrote to while he was in the service now brings her vegetables.
Being the wife of a veteran and growing up during WWII, she knows the weight of serving the nation, she said.
“Growing up we were taught in school that it was really important to stand and salute the flag,” she said, tearing up.
“I remember our teacher told us that you don’t know who is dying for the flag. We don’t know today.”
Joann said she has been blessed to be able to quilt with a group from St. Agnes Catholic Church, whom she called her “quilting sisters.”
One quilt that stands out to her was made for a man who wanted to live to be 100 years old. He had a photo made with a quilt from Joann at his 100th birthday party.
The wedding ring quilts she made for granddaughters were her favorites to make, emulating the same designs by her mother.
She has enjoyed making them for veterans, shut-ins, family, and even her kids’ and grandchildren’s teachers.
To receive a quilt made by Joann is to be covered in love and prayer, which are key components in the creative process, she said.
“It’s made out of love. When I do it, I pray over every one of them, ask the Lord to bless them and let them feel the presence,” she said as tears filled her eyes.
“Somebody asked if I sold them, I said no. I don’t sell them. I love giving them away.”
She says it sounds crazy at 87-years-old, but she still enjoys mowing the grass.
“In my mind I’m not old,” she said.
“I’m in the fourth quarter of age, but I’m not old in my head.”
She said she’s kept her mind young by working, continuing to do and learning to do new things.
“I’m blessed beyond measure with all the blessings I have.”
Joann Garraux
Age: 87
Place of birth: Stevenson, Ala.
Spouse: Ernest Garraux, passed away in 1992
Parents: William and Clara Arnold
Children: Deborah, Cynthia and Tamberlyn
Siblings: John, Jack, James, Thomas, Eddie and Syble
