Nan (Joiner) Bidlack

Hi, Everybody! It’s Nancy Joiner.

As you know if you read Stan Bidlack’s profile, we got married three years after graduation from Ann Arbor High. Next August, we celebrate our 46^th Anniversary. 

After our kids, Lisa & Matthew, were raised and off on their own, I decided to go after my life-long dream. The year I turned 48, I entered the University of Michigan School of Nursing as a freshman. I was nervous but excited. It wasn’t long before the kids — I mean the young students — began to treat me like the “the mom” of our class. I loved being in college, and six years later I was a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner. After working at the UofM and Chelsea hospitals until 2005, I was lured away to a job in beautiful Oregon. Stan retired from Huron High School, and we moved to the Pacific Northwest. 

Although we were a long way from our daughter’s family in Brighton, we were able to make frequent trips back to Michigan. Even though we enjoyed the new friends, hiking, cycling, and gorgeous scenery of Oregon, we missed friends and family back home way too much to stay there permanently. So in 2009 I decided to retire, and we found a new home near Pinckney where we’re between Ann Arbor and Lisa’s family. We’re happy to be part of their lives again. We only get to see Matt when he comes home on leave. He’s been in the Navy 14 years, and is stationed at Pearl Harbor the next three years. 

It was great to see old classmates and teachers at the first pre-reunion “Annual Event,” but I had to miss the second one to be with my mom in Florida. Stan and I enjoy recreational cycling, and I would love to get together with old classmates for rides, day hikes, and other outdoor activities while I’m still “young.” 

It’s wonderful to be back home again!

Nancy Joiner

December, 2011